Where the Dream Ends and the Nightmare Begins
by Cykeclops
Summary: Vincent Valentine overcomes his past with the helps of his friends.
1. Default Chapter Title

He sits there. Alone and ultimately abandoned. Who would dare leave a man in such a position that he condemned himself for 27 years? He abandoned himself.  
  
Haunting mental images swirl around in his mind like ghosts on a midnight prowl. The icy gash were the where his previous actions had punctured his heart still remained bleeding,open, and sore. The pit of his stomach would be nothing more than a pit. His body aching for some justification for what had happened that night in Nibelheim. Unfortunately, justice isn't always fair. Especially when your the judge of your own affairs.  
  
He slowly climbs to his feet and raises his hand to shield his eyes from the blinding sunlight reflecting off of Mt. Nibelheim What had possessed him to even come back? The truth? Perhaps...But more or less to end something that another man had started. He slowly opened the old wooden doors and let the nightmare consume him once more.   
  
  
  
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(I have no idea who did this artwork, but please note that it is not my own. And credit will be given if the artist comes forth.)   
  
  
  
  
  
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It had been raining in Nibelheim for a quite a long time. The thunder echoed loudly through the rocky cliffs that seemed to be the identity of the area. Though, through all of the apocalypse, Vincent Valentine had found his place in heaven. Heaven's Resturant,that is.  
  
Accompanying heaven's splendid beauty, was the purest angel Vincent had ever laid eyes on. A heart of gold and a face radiant of innocence. Her name even seemed to float through his mind on angel's wings. Lucrecia...Lucrecia my dearest friend... He sighed to himself. An angel in a sinner's presence...  
  
  
  
  
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Vincent shook his head as if trying to shake the cobwebs loose from the memories that he had tried to leave behind. He found himself in the dusty foyer once more, still somewhat fascinated by the architecture of the building. The wind whistled through a crack in the stain glass window pane, almost whispering her name each time he took the  
smallest breath. The demons were back...his guilt...How could he ever expect her to forgive him when he couldn't even forgive himself?  
  
Down the encircling stairway and into the basement itself, he found himself walking. The seemly never ending winding staircase, ever the more reminding him of his heart wrenching guilt.  
  
His footsteps eerily echoed through the silent basement's corridors. Ironically, symbolic of his own beating heart.  
  
He suddenly stopped at the end of the hallway, looking over the dusty books and rusted medical paraphernalia. The scapel lay just as Hojo had left it, stained with Vincent's own blood, and seringe, with his piercing needle lye beside it. As he glanced down upon the floor, he found himself standing within a few cobble stones stained in  
crimson red. This is where the nightmare began...   
  
  
  
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"You gentlemen must never speak of this to anyone." Hojo mumbled as he stretched the rubber on his laytex gloves sending an annoying pop echoing through the imposing hallways of the mansion's basement.  
  
"Speak of what?!" Vincent demanded.  
  
Hojo quickly pulled something out of a drawer, making sure his body hid the contents of his hand. He quickly placed the object behind his back and walked up to the lovely woman who stood before him. He stopped only a few inches from her, and studied her as he placed his other hand on his chin.  
  
"Answer me, Hojo." Vincent spoke in a low threatening tone.  
  
"You may have her, Mr. Valentine." Hojo smiled as he pulled the seringe out from behind his back and squirted a small portion of it's contents into the air. "After I'm through with her."  
  
Vincent's eyes widened as Hojo began to lower the needle down toward her skin. Out of the corner of his eyes, Vincent saw Tseng begin to spring on Hojo, the determination in his eyes narrowing down upon their target. But pure determination wasn't enough to stop the chain of events that were about to flash before Vincent's eyes.   
  
Hojo suddenly pivoted as he pulled something out of an open drawer. His now extended arm, held a derringer pistol within it's evil grip. Vincent sprung as the shot filtered through his ears, but as he dove, he heard a cry of anguish from the young man as the bullet entered cleanly through his chest.  
  
Vincent's eyes widened as glanced back after finishing his dive in a squatting position. Tseng's body stumbled backwards from the sheer force of the tiny gun. His long,black hair flung backwards as did a sprinkling of crimson blood. Tseng's body landed with it's shoulder blades first, causing him to bounce twice as he skidded to his  
final resting place.   
  
Vincent's eyes filled with pain as the young Turk's chest began to slowly deflate.  
Vincent turned to Hojo, his eyes full of rage. His brother had been shot. He was not about to let another die in his presence.  
  
Hojo quickly flipped the derringer up to Lucrecia's temple. "Now I suggest you back down, Vincent, before you end up as your young proigue."  
  
Vincent's eyes softened as he looked into Lucrecia's pleading eyes. Vincent's shoulders slumped downward as he hung his head disgustedly, two tears slowly rolled down his pale face as backed away two steps before he heard three shots.  
  
One tore through the muscle in his right shoulder. The second penetrated his left thigh. The third, and final shot rocketed through his chest, causing him to slump over on his knees.It all seemed to happen in a series of surreal slow motions that made each moment seem like an eternity of excruciating pain.  
  
He could hear Lucrecia scream as she tried to free herself, but Hojo held his grip tightly. Vincent looked up at Lucrecia once more as the room around him began to grow slowly dim.Her scream seemed to keep echoing in his mind, taunting him to do something as he froze in utter shock. Hojo roughly jabbed the needle into her soft skin, and Vincent fell forward onto his face on the hard, cold, cobblestone floor hoping... praying... never to see the light of day again, for a life without Lucrecia would be a life not worth living for...  
  
  
  
  
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Vincent shuddered. The smell of must finally awakened him from his dreamlike state. He found himself oddly staring at the dried puddle of blood once more,letting it's burning colors seep slowly into his mind.   
  
His eyes followed the trail of sprinkling blood until they finally rested upon a second guilt stained puddle. Crimson. The most beautiful and yet the most horrifying color in the world. It was here that second death took place.  
  
It is said that family members have a certain connection to each other. They know and feel each other's pain, which in this case, only served to kill his broken body twice over. The crimson stain was a bitter memorial to another man and a brother, like Vincent, who did not live the way he once did. Vincent nodded acknowledgingly at the puddle as  
if to thank it for it's remembrance of his younger brother.  
  
Long after they had passed away, those bloodstained walls would retell the story for enternity if someone was interested enough to hear.Or...would the walls only retell the lies of betrayal as so many books in the adjacent library had?  
  
Knowledge... He thought to himself. All of this madness caused by one man's thirst for knowledge.   
  
Knowledge is power, and yet, power corrupts. If your search for knowledge with your totality, you will be consumed by it. Luckily, Hojo's son was able to see past the sins of his Father and was not the vector of further corruption.   
  
With that thought, Vincent turned to face the library...   
  
  
  
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Like a madman searching for treasure, he hastily thumbed through the many volumes of the dust covered library. His long silvery hair hung neatly behind him as he rushed his bangs away from his face with right hand as he balanced the sturdy volume in his left.  
  
He had been down there for days, looking for something that he knew would have a major effect on his life.  
  
He laid the heavy hard bound book down on the dusty wooden table and shifted his weight to his left arm as he let his index finger of his right hand smoothly underline the text he was reading. He was so immersed in his quest, that he neglected time itself until he reached a passage entitled his Mother's name: Jenova.  
  
His eyes remained intensely fixated upon the yellowed pages of the sturdy volume. His black pupils darting back and forth over the hand-written text.  
  
His eyes snapped shut as did the volume simultaneously. His chest inflated as his muscles contracted. He shook his silvery hair behind him and he thrust his shoulders back. A new gleam of pride shown upon his soft facial features, and a condemning look of insanity filled his once placid green eyes.  
  
A dam had finally opened within his mind, and the voice of another seeped within his conscious. It was a welcomed experience, one that he never thought he would ever feel. The gentle caressing of his mother's voice began to filter through his once lonesome mind. It was a feeling of warmth...a feeling of love. Love. Why had no one ever shared  
this miraculous emotion with him? Were they jealous? Jealous of what?  
  
You are born of a higher race, my son... Her soothing voice flowed like honey through the jagged edges of his fractured mind. They fear you...they...the humans...destroyed we, the ancients, because they feared us...  
  
"I am not a human?" Sephiroth muttered to himself.  
  
You are more than human, my baby boy. The others stole from us what was rightfully ours...We are the rightful heirs to the planet. You must reclaim it by destroying all that tried to destroy you. You must destroy them before they destroy you..."  
  
The young man was drunk with ambition and even more so by the lies that his mother as well as the Shin-Ra had fed him. He took the nourishment he sustained from those lies and began to grow an ambition of the greatest magnitude. He would punish those who stood in his way. But.... he wondered. What if she was wrong? No, someone with the love she dealt would never lie..No one has ever treated me with such kindness. Why should I not return the favor?"  
  
  
  
  
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Blink.PLUNK. Blink..PLUNK...Blink....  
  
Vincent turned.  
  
A cold wind began to blow from an unknown source as Vincent's dark hair rustled  
slowly along with his crimson cape.  
  
Blink.PLUNK. Blink..PLUNK...Blink....  
  
He turned toward the source of the sound, finding a mildew covered mirror streaked with drops of run-off that had fallen from the stone ceiling above him. His red eyes warily glanced into the mirror before his eyelids hid them from what he had become. The droplets seemed to form intricate patterns on the reflective material, making Vincent's reflection appear more inhuman that it actually was. As he looked back into the mirror, he found himself staring into a reflection of a crying man, who's tears had formed by the condensation upon the mirror itself.  
  
The steady droplets of water landed quietly into a stream upon the floor,which puddled around one of the crimson stained locations, causing it to appear to grow and sparkle amidst the torch lit room. He knew this was merely an illusion, but the blood seemed to seep up from it's final resting place, as if reopening the wound where Hojo had  
maliciously murdered his soul...   
  
  
  
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He suddenly found himself lying in a casket in the Shin-Ra Mansion's catacombs, his shoulders wedged between the two angular satin cushions. As he laid in the darkness of the casket, he wondered if this was death. So encompassing. So alone. A tear slowly trickled down his battered face as the events of that previous day slowly haunted his presence. Tseng was dead and Lucrecia might as well been. He wanted to die there within the midst of his own fear and guilt. Life just wasn't worth living anymore...  
  
His body ached all over, but he somehow managed to dislodge the wooden casket's lid. As the light began to slowly filter into the casket, he noticed a small shimmer emerging from his forearm. The lid crashed to the floor as Vincent slowly sat up, stretching every aching muscle in his body until he began to realize that he no longer  
had feeling in his right hand.   
  
His eyes grew in horror as he looked down upon monstrosity that had now taken the place of his left hand. "What?!" A metallic claw flexed as Vincent brought it closer to his face.   
  
As Vincent leapt to the floor, he realized that he was not wearing his blue Turks uniform anymore. Instead, he found himself wrapped in a black suit and concealed within a red shroud. His right hand seemed to appear normal, but the claw seemed to horrify him each time one of it's digits moved.  
  
He looked down at the stone floor surveying his body as his eyes slowly drifted downward until he hit a crimson stain beneath his feet. He stared down at the stain until it's image began melt away into a flood within his own eyes as tears began to burn like hellfire within his eyes.  
  
It was then that he realized his penance. With a guilty conscience, he slowly climbed back into the coffin and reached over the edge with his good hand until he felt the rough edge of the casket's lid. As he pulled the lid back over himself, he laid his clawed hand upon his chest in his line of sight as a reminder of that fateful day. Never again would he allow such a tragedy to darken upon his now red eyes. From then until what he assumed would be eternity, he would sleep the sleep of a guilty murderer although not at fault for what had become of his two friends.   
  
  
  
  



	2. Default Chapter Title

What seemed to be a lifetime later, still didn't seem to be long enough to the aching heart of Vincent Valentine. He found himself aroused by the peculiar sound of voices within the lonesome depths of the basement.  
  
His eyes widened as he realized that the voices were becoming closer and closer to the occupied casket. For an unknown reason, he thrusted the casket lid open as he had done several years earlier. It was a shock to both Vincent and the entering party.   
A young man stood to his left. He was a small, yet powerful looking young man with blue eyes that shined radiantly with glow of mako energy. Next to the young man, was a woman in a pink dress that seemed to bring a calming essence with every step she took. The last member of the party was a baffling site. A fire red lion with tattoos laced around his legs and shoulders was peering curiously at Vincent, and for once in his life, Vincent didn't mind being stared at.  
  
"Who are you?!" Vincent asked angrily as he arose from his casket.  
  
"We're Avalanche." He said sternly. "I am Cloud and this is Aeris and Red." The red lion seemed to watch him puzzledly, but Aeris seemed to almost peer into his guilt-ridden soul. That insight made Vincent extremely nervous. " But I think we have better question for you." Cloud's mako eyes glared down upon him." Why are you locked down here in the Shin-Ra Mansion?"  
  
"Leave me alone and let me sleep." Vincent mumbled harshly as he laid back down in his casket, folding his arms with his claw cupped over his normal hand in a ritualistic funeral position.  
  
Red looked up Cloud curiously, his wide lion eyes looking innocent as they gazed up the group's leader. "Maybe he would like to join us?"  
  
Vincent stared back up at the stone ceiling, his eyes never leaving molding crack  
in the stone ceiling. "Join you in what?" He asked in half curiosity, but yet partially out of habit.  
  
Cloud shot Red a fearsome glance as Red's eyes quickly fell to the floor. But a small smiled appeared on his face as he looked down upon the red lion and the beautiful girl beside him. "We are trying to stop a threat from destroying the planet."  
  
" I deserve to die."Vincent whispered as he slowly closed his eyes. "Leave me be."  
  
Aeris's eyebrows furrowed as she studied Vincent carefully.Cloud only gave him a menacing glare. "I can't judge you, but I can honestly say that I'm shocked to see that you're callused enough to let the world die."  
  
  
Vincent grimaced at Cloud's attack on his morality,but the rest of his body remained rigid inside the coffin as it slowly settled into the velvet cushions within it. "I have nothing more to say to you." He sighed in a monotone voice.  
  
"If you won't do this for yourself, won't you do it for someone else?" Aeris whispered softly. "I'm sure you must love or must have loved someone out there."   
  
"Love." The word echoed through Vincent's mind as his eyes suddenly flickered opened once more. The pain was all so very real and it's guilt was worse than a thousand flaming knives stabbing him through the heart. No, he did not deserve her love, nor did he deserve his company's sympathy. He deserved no more than what he condemned himself to. Death was the suitable punishment for such a condemnable crime.  
  
Cloud pivoted on his left foot as he began to exit the room, his footsteps eerily echoing through out the skeleton scattered room."Come on, guys. If this guy doesn't want to help us stop Sephiroth, that's his problem."  
  
Vincent suddenly bolted upright in his coffin. His heart was pounding as he heard the name of Lucrecia's unborn son. "Sephiroth?!" The knife of guilt plunged into his heart again, but the blood of his metaphysical knife began to spout the emotions that had been locked within the casket with him for 27 years.  
  
Both Red and Aeris jumped back in shock from Vincent's sudden movement. Cloud spun back around as he quickly unsheathed his sword. Vincent feared Cloud's sword little as he approached them.   
  
Vincent placed his good hand on the coffin's edge and vaulted himself over the side with amazing agility. "What about Sephiroth?!" His eyes narrowed upon the blunt, young man who seemed to fidget under Vincent's icy glare.  
  
" He's trying to destroy the world!" Red said with burst of urgency. Cloud gave Red another dirty look as he began to exit the death stenched room.  
  
"I'm coming with you." Vincent said sharply as he grasped his gun off of one of the many empty coffins that surrounded the room's walls.  
  
"You're what?!" Cloud exclaimed, nearly dropping his sword.  
  
Vincent looked up at Cloud, and Cloud felt a spine-tingling chill run down his back as Vincent's red eyes pierced his own. " I believe you heard me."  
  
Cloud turned away from Vincent. "Fine." He grumbled angrily, unable to admit to himself that the man was a bit frightening to him. "Just don't get us killed on your account."  
  
"Cloud!" Aeris threw her arms up into the air disgustedly. "I'm sure that Mr..uh...he can take care of himself!"  
  
Vincent glanced back at Aeris as the group began to slowly exit the room.  
  
"Vincent." Vincent said harshly before he turned to Cloud." And I don't believe that you  
will need to worry about that," Vincent mumbled as he slid a few bullets into the chamber of his gun , "I can fend for myself. But unless I can speak to Sephiroth, I might as well be dead. He is my one hope for redemption."  
  
"Your...redemption." Cloud sighed as he rolled his eyes. "Nothing good can come from that man. He killed my Mother. I assure you, no redemption of any kind can come from him except the redemption of death."  
  
"Maybe that is what I wish." Vincent snapped the chamber shut by a flick of his  
wrist as he finished the rest his sentence. Cloud only looked at him momentarily before they began their assention of the stairs.  
  
"You don't mean that, Vincent, do you?" Aeris asked him as she slowly tested the creaky stairs that were set before her.  
  
Vincent stopped and turned to look into Aeris's green eyes. " I.....he is the only way I can redeem myself in the eyes of the woman I loved." His expression remained unchanged, and yet his heart seemed to reconsider every breath he took.  
  
Aeris nodded with a sense of fullfillment, Cloud's expression told otherwise. "We're not here so you can impress some girl friend of your's. This is for the planet."  
  
Vincent placed his hand upon Cloud's shoulders as he passed him on the creaky stairs. "Was."  
  
"Was?!" Red asked curiously with almost no sense of tact.  
  
"She...is dead." Vincent replied as he waited for the others to exit the hidden entrance.  
  
"How did she die?" Cloud's voice had softened.  
  
"I killed her."  
  
  
  
  
  
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He knelt down beside the puddle, and examined his own reflection amongst the crimson color. Crimson. The color of redemption. Why did it only serve to condemn him more? He reached down and touched the puddle, causing it to ripple out to the puddle's outer edges.  
  
The reflection cleared itself of the ripple and was replaced by the eerie imagine of the lock on the door that had kept him in bonds for so long...  
  
The ties that bind us. He thought as he rose from his knees, and placed his eyes upon  
the old rusted lock that had remained untouched since he was freed from his penance to save his love's only son.  
  
He grasped the lock in his good hand and stared at it momentarily. The things we must leave behind to proceed on with our lives...or was this a better example of the hindrances that seem to forever hold us to the memories that haunt us.   
  
  
  
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It couldn't have been more than a lifetime later, that he found himself face to face with Lucrecia's only child, Sephiroth. He was a strong, handsome man with his mother's eyes and his father's thoughtful look. But at this point, this look was not natural my any means.  
  
He found himself pressed against the wall, gasping for air as Sephiroth continued to press harder on his deflated chest. He could feel his ribs about to give way as Sephiroth grinned cruelly. Was this really Lucrecia's son?!  
  
Sephiroth shoved him roughly, releasing his grip on the older man, causing him to tumble to the floor. The other members of Avalanche watched in horror as Vincent reclaimed his breath.  
  
Sephiroth picked up the black-haired Tifa Lockheart and grasped his black gloved hand tight around her neck.The blood vessels in her temples began to bulge as Sephiroth began to squeeze harder.  
  
"Stop this instant!" Vincent said with such boldness that he almost didn't recognize his own voice.  
  
Sephiroth turned and gave the dark man an amused look as he cast Tifa aside."Your boldness intrigues me, stranger." Sephiroth smiled. "Unfortunately, I do not have time for such nonsense."  
  
The sound of Sephiroth unsheathing his sword sent chills up Vincent's spine. The reflection of the torches off of the masume almost gave it a tint of crimson as Sephiroth sliced the air in front of him, merely inches from Vincent's neck.  
  
"Are you prepared to die?" Sephiroth asked him with a small smirk.  
  
"I am." Vincent whispered harshly,never removing his eyes from Sephiroth's, as Sephiroth raised his sword to eye level.  
  
"SEPHIROTH NO!" Aeris screamed.  
  
A soft look suddenly grew across Vincent's face, and Sephiroth hesitated for one moment. " I am willing to die, if it means that I died trying to fulfill a promise to your mother."  
  
Sephiroth lunged with his masume, but sighed in defeat as he crashed against the stone wall slightly above Vincent's right shoulder. "What do you know about my mother?!" Sephiroth shouted as he withdrew his masume and resumed it in it's previous stabbing position.  
  
"Apparently something you don't." Vincent said flatly as he looked down the point of Sephiroth's sword into soul of Sephiroth's green eyes. He knew there wasn't an evil inside those eyes. They were Lucrecia's eyes. They were perfect.  
  
"Quit speaking in riddles! I grow tired of this!" Sephiroth mumbled angrily as his eyes zeroed in on Vincent's larynx.  
  
Vincent suddenly stiffened as he looked Sephiroth in the eyes. "You feel alone,don't you?" Vincent sighed, never letting his eyes drop from Sephiroth's. "You feel abandoned...hurt...you..."  
  
"What do you know about how I feel?!" Sephiroth growled as cast his sword away,  
clenching his fists as if he planned to finish off Vincent with his fists.   
  
"I know..."Vincent paused, finally taking his eyes off of Sephiroth,"because I have been in your position."Vincent sighed. "You try to fool yourself into thinking that you are more than human because you posses something that most of us do not, but you are wrong,Sephiroth. Dead wrong."  
  
Vincent saw a small glint of puzzledness in Sephiroth's eyes before he took one step toward him. The haze of hate was slowly beginning to fill his eyes once more, and Vincent knew that he must act quickly.  
  
Vincent with held his golden claw up and extended it towards Sephiroth's angered face. "Do you see this?!" Vincent's voice began to rise." This. THIS is the claw of something that is inhuman."  
  
"You're hindrances have no effect on me." Sephiroth sneered as he took one step forward. "I have no pity for you."  
  
"You're not listening." Vincent said sharply, never letting his gaze fall. " I don't deserve you pity nor am I here to beg for it. Look!" Vincent shouted extending his clawed arm at Sephiroth. "Tell me what you see in your reflection."  
  
"I grow weary of..."  
  
"STOP." Vincent's eyes narrowed down upon Sephiroth. "This claw is of the same father as your own. One of torment, guilt, and confusion. I watched as your Mother was lead to her death. I saw another man die before me before I,myself, was turned into this hideous creature that stands before you. Kill me. Then you will be no better than the humans you are so desperate to kill. Humans that may seem weak and inferior to you, but   
my death will only be looked upon as a human act. Kill me so you may achieve a human fault. Not the fault of a God. Of a HUMAN!"  
  
Sephiroth stood and watched Vincent in puzzledly. No man had dared speak to him in such a manner before.  
  
" Gods with such magnificent powers have no need to kill those who are lesser than they are because they know deep within their souls that they ARE better. Can you honestly look within yourself and tell me you have that sense of honor? Or are you just a glorified human, seeking revenge on those who hurt you? Answer me, son of Lucrecia. WHO ARE YOU?!"  
  
Sephiroth's eyes also narrowed, and within a second, the masume was within his grasp. Vincent only found mere seconds to spring from his current position as Sephiroth's sword crashed into the stone where Vincent's heart once was. His Chaos limit break was forming within him, ready to be released at any moment.  
  
Sephiroth turned to face Vincent once more."You strike me because you know that you have been wrong."  
  
Sephiroth thrusted his sword sideways. "No, I strike because I am the son of a Cetra!"  
  
"LISTEN TO ME!" Vincent shouted. "What you are makes no difference. It is who you are. You will still be an heir to the planet whether you kill or not. You are not a monster because you were born from Jenova cells. You are a being because you were born of my lovely Lucrecia and of Dr. Hojo. Conceived under scientific circumstances. You feel hurt and alone. You feel as though you are a monster because of what you are. Well, I am here to show you a monster, Sephiroth. Not only a monster of mere appearances, but one that used to be of heart as well. My heart healed by my speaking to you out of my love for her."  
  
There, before Avalanche and Sephiroth's eyes, Vincent Valentine grimaced as two purple wings began to emerge from his back. His eyes began to glow a deep red crimson as they began to slant inward. His hands and feet grew into long, slender talons as the rest of his skin turned a deep shade of purple. Finally his ears began point and face was no longer recognizable. There before them, stood the figure of a gargoyle like monster.And just as Vincent had hoped, Aeris Gainsboro stepped into the battle.  
  
Her soft appearance seemed to soothe Sephiroth as she approached him. "Sephiroth,  
I am the last remaining Cetra. My name is Aeris."  
  
"You lie..."Sephiroth mumbled, still watching the monster that stood before him.  
  
"Then why do you hesitate to kill us?" Aeris asked calmly.  
  
Sephiroth stared at her for moment as if contemplating her words. In the meantime,  
Vincent had slowly regressed back to his human form. He threw down his sword like a child in an angry tirade. Traces of doubt flooded his eyes and Aeris stood beside Vincent.  
  
"I know that you are lonely because you long for you mother." Aeris said softly. "If you were a Cetra, wouldn't she have reached you through the life stream instead of mysteriously calling you? Wouldn't you have heard others as well if you were a Cetra?"  
  
" I....I don't know." Sephiroth said, finally reaching the point of breaking.   
  
"You are human." Vincent finally spoke. " You may not consist of every human part as I do not, but you are human none the less by your emotions, your hopes, and your fears. Come with us, Sephiroth and prove your birthright of a living being. Not as a human, a monster, or a cetra.But as Sephiroth."  
  
Sephiroth collapsed on his knees. "Mother, tell me. What should I do?"  
  
And for the first time in 5 years, Sephiroth did not receive an answer. Not from his Mother or the Lifestream. Instead, he found the empty husk of what was once a human man. One that he wished to return to. One he longed to be a part of once more.  
  
"Tell me, how can I return to a world that I have so unjustly wronged?" Sephiroth asked as though a child were asking a simple question.  
  
" Prove to them that you are truly sorry for you actions." The RedXIII finally spoke."Prove to us all that you are more than a madman. That you were only a man wronged by the Shin-Ra."  
  
"These people have offered me the chance to redeem myself and to redeem others from the Shin-Ra. Perhaps they will do the same for you." Vincent sighed as he turned to Avalanche. "They would except you for who you are. Not who you were."  
  
Sephiroth turned to Vincent angrily. "They cannot forgive me...I ..."He paused. "cannot...even forgive myself."  
  
" Healing is a slow process, Sephiroth." Aeris said quietly. "Like all things among the planet, this too takes time. Vincent and I will be there to help and assure you every step of the way."  
  
  
  
  
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Steps...increments that life slowly measured itself by. Vincent slowly turned the key in the rusted lock, causing it to moan in agony as the gears slowly turned, separating the bar from the lock itself. Tseng...He survived...only by Hojo's hand. The creator merely created more pain in another creation. And thus the pain continued through the Valentine bloodlines as brother was plotted against brother...and friend against friend.  



	3. Default Chapter Title

He took one step. And then another. The man in front of him drew his gun as Vincent quickly pulled his death penalty out of it's holster. Vincent's red eyes scanned the man as his opponent seemed to do the same.  
  
Their movements were almost identical. Their mannerisms were one in the same. There couldn't have been two better matched opponents...  
  
Vincent's red cape rustled in the wind as it also caught the young man's suit jacket, causing it to flare behind him. Both men stared at each other for what seemed to be an eternity before one of them spoke.  
  
"Vincent."His voice harsh, but somewhat full of amusement. His dark eyes meeting Vincent's, chilling his very soul.  
  
"Tseng." Vincent nodded in acknowledgment to the younger man.  
  
Vincent took one step to the left, and Tseng followed in suit. The two began pacing in a circle as two cats would before a prowl as they continued to speak.  
  
"I heard you were dead." Tseng lowered his gun slightly.  
  
"And I heard you were leading the Turks as of late." Vincent replied harshly causing Tseng's eyes to narrow down upon him once more.  
  
Tseng shook his black hair out of his face as he continued to stare at Vincent. He brought his gun back up so his line of fire was directly in line with Vincent's temple. "You heard correctly." Tseng replied, returning Vincent's harsh tone. "And since you were the former leader of the Turks, you realize what I must do."   
  
Vincent nodded sharply, but then looked directly into Tseng's eyes. The pain...the  
torment... "If one had only heard his voice," Vincent thought,"Tseng's monotone voice would have provided sufficient proof for the sincerity of his actions, but his eyes..." The startling realization hit him. Tseng's pain filled eyes were all but a mirror of his own.  
  
"No." Vincent replied after a long moment of silence. Vincent dropped his head disgustedly, causing his long black hair to fall over his face. "I do not understand why this must take place."   
  
"If you only knew..." Tseng's voice had softened dramatically, his eyes were almost pleading for another alternative.  
  
"I know a lot of things..." Vincent replied. "But I do not see reason for this bloodshed."Vincent's head suddenly jerked back up and met Tseng's stoic face. "And neither do you." Vincent said sharply in almost a whisper.  
  
Vincent's words hung heavily in the air as they pierced Tseng's heart in it's most vulnerable place:The truth. It broke the barrier of the lies that had protected his aching heart that he had made himself believe. And now, it would seem, the walls of his life were coming tumbling down.  
  
The gun in Tseng's hands began to waver. Tseng fought the tears that were welling up in his eyes as he regained his grip on the gun. The strain was evident on his face as he tried to conceal his emotions.  
  
Tseng's heart was pounding, his temples throbbing...Would he betray his brother for a company based on lies and deceit?  
  
"I....I....can't do it..." Tseng hung his head disgustedly, his black hair falling down in front of his face as he dropped his gun to his side.  
  
"I knew you couldn't..." A woman's soft voice echoed from a nearby alley.  
  
"Who?!" Tseng spun around as he raised his gun again looking for the source of the sound.  
  
She slowly stepped out of the shadows. Her pink dressed flowed around her as she gripped her iron staff loosely. "I just knew you couldn't..."  
  
Tseng asked in almost a whisper as he dropped his pistol once more."Aeris?"  
  
Vincent stepped back momentarily, confused by the two's knowledge of each other. "You...know each other?"  
  
"For a very long time, Vincent, and under circumstances I wish could have been different." Tseng sighed, his glance shifting from Vincent to Aeris.  
  
Aeris nodded. "Tseng was nice enough not to force me into Dr. Hojo's lab."Aeris smiled embarassedly."He's known me since I was little."  
  
For the first time, Vincent saw Tseng smile slightly, and a small spark in his once saddened eyes.Aeris returned his gesture with her bright smile as she approached the two men.  
  
"What do you plan to do now?" Vincent asked Tseng as he holstered his death penalty in it's leather casing.  
  
"I honestly don't know, Vincent." Tseng's face turned solemn again as he turned to face Vincent.   
  
Aeris stepped up beside Tseng. "You can't go back to the Shin-Ra." Aeris said sternly, as if ordering him to leave the company. "Too much blood has been lost already." Aeris paused. "Tseng, the Shin-Ra is isn't you. You're too much of a human being to be a part of that heartless thing. You have a heart, Tseng...don't try to hide it." She whispered compasionately.  
  
"I..."Tseng began.  
  
"Don't lie to yourself,Tseng." Vincent sighed as he began to walk away. "You're only fooling yourself."  
  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
And with that thought, Vincent Valentine left the Shin-Ra mansion, hoping to have left another part of his painful past behind him. But was the nightmare truely over? Or had it just begun?  
  
  



	4. Default Chapter Title

She sits there, waiting as her long brown hair rustles in the cold, fall wind that was blowing through the sector 7 alley. He was 10 minutes late and her thoughts were racing as she peered into the inky darkness from the concrete bench on which she sat, hoping...looking wistfully for his rigid silhouette. This was the biggest decision either of them had ever made in the existance of either of their lives. And the weight of that decision flooded her heart and soul with the weight of life and death. She peered up onto the ledge of a nearby roof, spotting her companion watching over her like a hawk and yet with the protectiveness of the father she never had. And yet he was still filled with the same anticipation as he too waited for the appearance of one man from the Shin-Ra Building's back door.  
  
His gun was placed upon his hip as he stared down upon her with his cold,red eyes. His elbow was propped upon his knee as his foot rested upon the raised ledge of the building. His black Watuian hair fluttered behind him as did his crimson red cape in the cool nightly breeze. Was this sucide? Possibly. But what else could harm the man that had eluded death?  
  
He was Vincent Valentine. She was Aeris Gainsborough. And they waited in silence for the man now only known as Tseng. The man known only to their hearts as a lover and a brother.  
  
Her heart beat faster with every passing moment. She tried to supress the bile in her throat as she shifted her weight nervously, flattening her pink dress with trembling hands as she thought of the consequences if he were to be caught.  
  
A small splash caught Vincent's attention from his perch as his eyes narrowed upon the general area of where the sound came. Another splash was followed by the sound of deliberate footsteps. He pulled his death penalty out of its holster and quietly cocked it as a rigid shadow appeared in the alleyway, approaching Aeris with slow, deliberate movements as if stalking her. It was as if he wanted to melt into the night itself.  
  
His dark blue Shin-Ra suit masked him well in the darkness. The stoic look on his face remained as cold as the night air around him until Aeris came into view. Vincent agilely sprung from his look out position upon the two story roof, his cape flaring behind him like the wings of a demon until he landed in a knealing position upon the pavement. He slowly brought himself to an upright position once more.  
  
"Tseng!" Aeris whispered quietly, barely able to contain herself as she wrapped her arms around him.  
  
Tseng smiled a wry grin as he also wrapped his arms around her until he became aware of Vincent's approaching presence.His body stiffened and his expression turned to a look of perfect professionalism as he looked Vincent in the eye, almost thanking him for his presence and for the protection of his love.  
  
Aeris looked up at him with her saphire blue eyes and broke their embrace as she turned to face Vincent, who was now upon them.  
  
"We can't stay here much longer."Vincent muttered flattly as the first few drops of rain began to fall, wetting and adding a shine to his black hair.  
  
Tseng merely nodded as he looked down at Aeris once more. "I am putting you in enough danger by betraying the Shin-Ra. Staying here, next to the Shin-Ra Building, will only add to our problems."  
  
His voice was cold and emotionless though Aeris knew much better than to rely on outward appearances. Behind his bloody past with the Shin-Ra was the heart of a man who had once thought to have lost everything in a fraction of a second, to only redeem it after years of guilt and fustration and the death of his heart and soul that had followed after the murder of Lucrecia and after,what had appeared to be, his own demise.  
  
"Let's just get out of here..." Aeris whispered as she nervously glanced over her shoulder. When she returned her glance to her two companions, she found Vincent quietly melting into the shadows as he slowly walked away, lost within his own mind and trying not to cry.  
  
"This has to be hard for him."Tseng muttered as he took her hand in his and watched Vincent disappear before their very eyes.  
  
"You mean about Lucrecia?" Aeris whispered softly, looking up into Tseng's stern face with a questioning yet compassionate glance.  
  
Tseng merely nodded, causing his black hair to rustle lightly against his black suit."He would have done anything for here..."Tseng paused. "Even given up his own life for her's."  
  
Aeris nodded grimmly, but then grinned slightly as she took Tseng's other hand into her own. "I think that you and your brother have a lot in common."  
  
Tseng snorted, as if slightly amused by the idea as he and Aeris began to walk hand in hand into the safety of the night. Tseng spotted Vincent with his head hung and his arms crossed he leaned against the dirty brick building.   
  
"I sometimes wonder if that is such a good thing..."Tseng muttered underneath his breath.  
  
"Tseng?" A lone voice echoed through the lonesome alley.  
  
Both Tseng and Vincent pivoted toward the location of which the sound had emerged. Both men drew their guns with lightning speed, and when Vincent glanced at Aeris, he found that she too, was in a fighting stance, he staff in a neutral position.  
  
"Elena?"Tseng asked. A lump rose in Tseng's throat as he met Elena's confused expression.  
  
"Elena...I..."Tseng began, quickly trying to think of how to explain his situation to the young Turk. As he glanced behind him, he found Vincent's gun trained on the young woman's head, but his eyes told him he was hesitant to fire. Tseng would make sure that he would use that hesitation to the best advantage he could.  
  
"Tseng?" Elena paused,somewhat dumbfounded by finding Tseng with the two Avalanche members.  
  
"I...." Tseng began, trying not to lower his eyes to the blue suited Turk before him.  
  
"You caught them!" Elena exclaimmed as she began to approach, flumbling with her gun in it's holster.  
  
Vincent shot Tseng a dirty look as the young woman approached.  
  
"Not exactly,Elena." Tseng muttered.  
  
"Then what?" A voice asked out of the darkness.  
  
As Elena looked at Tseng, the sound of dress shoes beating on the wet concrete caused Tseng's attention to be drawn over Elena's shoulder.  
  
"Reno..." Tseng muttered with such a sense of dread that it pained Aeris to even hear it. Reno had been like a son to him. He met Reno's expressionless face, but within Reno's eyes, Tseng could see the pain the young Turk felt as he began to put the pieces of the puzzle together.  
  
"Looking for a new line of work,boss?" Reno grinned through the guise of his professionalism, though his eyes told otherwise.   
  
Tseng continued to stare at him as Reno looked him over. The last set of footprints Tseng had expected to hear finally fell upon his ears. Rude solemnly walked forward, his bald head slightly glittering from the street light above. Rude peered at Tseng through his dark sunglasses, his expression never changing.  
  
"It's three on three."Vincent muttered as he rested his hand on the black barrel near the hammer of his dealth penalty gun.  
  
Aeris glanced over at him out of the corner of her eye, squeezing her weapon tighter in her grasp. Elena slowly cocked her pistol down at her and squeezed the handle tightly as if unsure of what to do.  
  
"No..."Tseng said sternly, speaking to both the Turks and the two members of Avalanche. "I've seen enough blood in my lifetime. I do not wish to see more."  
  
Elena loosened her grip her pistol as Reno dropped his prod by his side.  
  
"But Tseng..."Reno began."Why?"  
  
A shot suddenly rang out,shattering the silence of the night.Vincent's eyes widened as Tseng fell to his knees,the bullet penetrating his right shoulder.Vincent looked to see a fourth man in the shadows, and cursed himself for not taking note of him sooner. "Because, he's a weak fool." Rufus Shin-Ra said with disgust as he held his smoking barrel high into the air.  
  
"No, I won't let it happen again..."Vincent muttered under his breath as he leapt to Tseng's side. The blood began to run down his blue suit as it mixed with the rain and puddles of standing water that were beneath him.  
  
"No..." Tseng uttered as he craddled his wound, his hands dripping of the crimson that came from within himself. "Take Aeris..."He paused to catch his breath," away from here..."  
  
All three of the Turks were now facing Rufus. Each of their expressions mirrored a look of horrific shock.  
  
"You...you &*^&%#! YOU COULD HAVE KILLED HIM!" Reno exclaimed throwing his arms out disgustedly.  
  
"That,Reno," Rufus paused for dramatic effect, "was the point." He said calmly as he slowly replaced his pistol back in its holster.  
  
Aeris was now beside Tseng as Vincent rose to his feet. " Have you no decency for your fellow man?!" Vincent shouted at Rufus. His jaw was set and his gun was aimed directly at the man's temple. Never before had any of the surrounding people seen that look of rage in Vincent's eyes. The sheer torture and pain of a 30 year penanace was etched across his face like an epitaph on Rufus's headstone.  
  
"Tseng does not qualify as a 'man' in a matter of speaking..." Rufus's voice trailed off as his gaze turned to Tseng as if expecting the man to do some sort of trick.  
  
"What kind of crack are you on,Rufus?!" Reno looked at him." And what do you mean?!"  
  
"What...do you mean?" Aeris finally spoke, her voice almost a whisper.  
  
"So you haven't told them,Tseng?" Rufus smiled with an amused sigh. "Why am I not surprised? You always were good at keep secrets. That's why I hired you as my personal body guard."  
  
Tseng clutched his chest in agony and doubled over in pain. His black hair fell over his pain-filled eyes as he almost sat in a fetal position.  
  
"If he dies, Rufus, I'll knock that grin off your face with this staff as well as your head!" Aeris shouted with tears in her eyes, as she kept her arm wrapped around Tseng's contorted body.  
  
Vincent smiled slightly to himself as Aeris's words echoed throughout the alley. He never quite expected such a violent statement to come from such passive lips.  
  
" I don't think I would worry about that, Aeris..." Rufus folded his arms and began to study Tseng.  
  
Aeris eyes widened as Tseng let out a cry of agony, that made even Rude shudder, as the bullet began to reappear inside the wound as the muscles of his chest seemed to push the foreign object out of his body. He grasped his wound in his right hand as clenched his teeth.  
  
  
The sound of a brass bullet hitting the moist concrete was the only sound that could be heard as it bounced in the puddles beneath Tseng's wounded body.A long ackward silence fell as both members of the Shin-Ra and Avalanche gasped in horror.  
  
"So that's how you survived all those years ago..." Vincent muttered to himself more than to Tseng.  
  
Rude,Elena, and Reno watched in amazement as the wound began to close. Elena took the first step toward him and quietly knelt beside him, much to the surprise of Vincent and Aeris. Vincent pulled his gun up, but Aeris rested her hand softly upon the barrel, reassuring him of Elena's sincerity. Reno then, stood beside Elena, his fists jammed deep within his pockets as his messy red hairy blew in the mid-night air. He may not have been the brightest of all the Turks, but he knew where his loyalities laid.  
  
Then, there was only Rude. He looked at Rufus and then he looked into the pleading eyes of both Reno and Elena. He hung his head as he turned his back on his fellow teammates and began to walk to Rufus's side.  
  
Reno looked down at the pavement as he turned away from his best friend, fighting back the pain and betrayal he felt inside. "Rude..." Reno muttered to himself.  
  
Rude stopped dead in his tracks and looked Reno straight in the eye. Rude only nodded as he turned to Rufus. Reno turned his back on his best friend for the first time since they had met.  
  
Rufus grinned a smug smile as Rude approached. "I knew I could trust at least one of you..."Rufus smiled. " Capture those tra--"  
  
CRACK!   
  
Reno pivoted as he heard the sound of bone shattering. He turned to find Rufus sprawled out across the darkened concrete unconscious while Rude was massaging his throbbing fist with a sly smile etched across his face. "He won't remember any of this..."Rude grinned as he turned to face Reno and the others. "But I think you all better leave. He'll be waking up shortly."  
  
Tseng nodded in gratitude as Vincent and Aeris helped him to his feet. "...Thank you..." Tseng said hoarsely as he looked each of the Turks in the eye. He wiped a tear away from Elena's eye as he silently thanked her once more.  
  
"He deserved it..."Rude muttered, the grin since disappeared from his face.  
  
Tseng nodded as Vincent and Aeris helped him hobble away into the darkness. Reno,Rude, and Elena could only helplessly watch as the only man they had ever trusted walk out of their lives forever.  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	5. Default Chapter Title

Vincent watched as Tseng held Aeris close to him after they had escaped,and wondered what it would be like to hold another human being again. No...he could not betray his feelings for Lucrecia. To love another would be a sin. But to be this lonely was like the fiery breath of Hades.  
  
They had made it out of Sector 6 merely a few minutes ago and Vincent stared off into the horizon as the sun began to rise. A pair of children ran through the puddled streets with their tattered clothing and dirt-covered bodies. The smiles on their faces and the warmth of the rising sun made Vincent's muscles loosen as he leaned against the one of the many crumbling buildings that seemed to litter the sector slums. This was new beginning... for all of them perhaps...  
  
He continued to watch as the two children splashed within the murky puddles, giggling endlessly as they threw the dirty water all over themselves. Many adults would have found shame living in such desperation, but these children...so full of innocence, were so much wiser than their adult counterparts. They knew how to make the most of what they had and were oblivious to their poverty stricken life.They had no fear of future and no pain of the past. Tseng and Aeris made the most of what they had, despite the odds.They found their love in each other to be their shield of innocence. Ignoring what the world...the Shin-Ra would have done to them, and loving without fear. Loving with out fear...loving without guilt...just loving...  
  
He slowly let his eyes close as he allowed the sun to warm his chilled body. The sound of children laughing was the last thing he heard as he drifted off to sleep...  
**********************  
Darkness...complete and utter darkness.  
  
"Vincent?" Her sweet voice echoed throughout the darkness.  
  
"Lucrecia?" His heart jumped. Its pounding echoed through the deadly silence."Lucrecia?!"  
Where are you?!"  
  
"Follow my voice,Vincent." Her voice sounded erie and cold as it continued to resound throughout the darkness. "Help me,Vincent. Save me..." She wept.  
  
Without a thought, Vincent sprung to his feet and began to run through the inky darkness, spotting one ray of light in the distance. His legs felt like lead and no matter how hard he ran, he continued to move at the same slow, methodical pace.  
  
As he became closer to the light, he saw her silhouette reaching out to him, begging him to pull her out of the light,but the area of light was slowly coming to a close as he continued to approach.   
  
"LUCRECIA!!!"  
  
"VINCENT!!!"  
  
The light had shrunk to the size of a basketball and continued to shirnk.He saw her delicate hand reach for his . His heart was pounding to the point where he thought it might explode, but none of that mattered. Not now...  
  
His eyes watered as he reached out to touch her delicate hand, but something from within the shrinking portal tried to retrieve her beautiful hand, jerking it just out of arm's reach. He tried again. And again. And again, yet he continued to miss the hand that was baiting him to continue.  
  
The hole reached the size of bracelet as her fingertips finally graced his own. The tips of  
their fingers softly brushed as her hand disappeared into the light. The small amount of  
light vanished as he tried to reach her one last time.   
  
"Vincent, I love you..." Her voice trailed off faintly.  
  
"LUCRECIA!!!"  
  
  
  
  
His head shook sharply.His eyes filled tears as they exploded open. Silence...There was never a more painful sound than pure, empty silence...  
  
Aeris glanced up at him from her sitting position and looked into his abnormally red eyes. That color. That deep reddish color was like a red tide, washing over like the plague, killing it's inhabitants and causing suffering to all those near it. It pained Aeris to look into his eyes and to see the tide of isolation washing over his very soul and drowning the hope that may have consoled it. The barriers he had set around his heart were stronger than anything she had ever encountered. And for once, she doubted if this man could ever be totally whole once more. The gaping hole in his heart left by Lucrecia's love was a never ending expanse... bludgeoned by the evilness of a mad man. The blood of pain, seemingly seeping into his very pupils, causing everything he looked upon to be tinted in the ominous shades of hopelessness and despair.What could she possibly say to him that would somehow console his soul?  
  
Tseng was standing several yards away from them, seeming lost in thought and pondering over his recent decision. And out of her own heart, she began to speak. Consoling him in the only way she could, by telling him he was not alone.  
  
"Sometimes..."Aeris began as she stared at Tseng. "I wonder if he regrets..." Her voice trailed off into the cool morning air. She hadn't given much thought to what she had said. It had sort of stumbled out, but she noticed a hint of interest in the man.  
  
"Love never regrets..."Vincent said coldly as he turned his back from her.  
  
Aeris turned, slightly shocked by Vincent's comment. Her eyes were an ocean of curiosity as she fixated them upon the man's back. "Do you honestly believe that,Vincent?"  
  
He looked down as the sun shimmered off the gold toe of his black boot. "I only regret one thing,Aeris..." He muttered, still not wanting to face Aeris as he fought back the tears. "That I did not act fast enough..."  
  
He could hear the gravel shift beneath her feet as he watched her silhouette climb out of it's cross-legged position. "You can't blame yourself for what happened, Vincent...It wasn't your fault."  
  
"How can you say that..." His voice trailed off sadly as he put his weight upon his good arm and draped his head in front of it."I was her only hope..."  
  
"Vincent...I..."Aeris began. She wanted to reach out and comfort the man as he heart demanded, but her lips lacked the words.  
  
"See. Even you can not defend or even try to comprehend what I have done. I am undeserving of your sympathy, although your thoughtfulness is appreciated."Only fools search for treasure in the wasteland,and Aeris was beginning to feel as though she was wasting her time trying to unburden his barren soul.  
  
"Vincent, you're being too hard on yourself." Aeris finally blurted in desperation, trying to keep the conversation moving as Vincent began to slowly walk away.  
  
Vincent sighed as he stopped dead in his tracks. "Aeris... please...let me be...An unconfessed sin will torture and kill a man...my penance is not yet over."  
  
He turned and looked at Aeris. He was doing it yet again. He was pushing her away. Most would have given up by this point, but not Aeris. He snorted to himself in disbelief that someone would ever care about him as much as Lucrecia did, but there she was. She was not Lucrecia...she was not his lover...she was friend. It pained him to turn her comfort down and to shoot down her hopes of comfort, but he wasn't ready. He just couldn't let it go. Not yet....Not now...He was lost in a limbo of emotions. His very feelings spinning around him.He could not confront these emotions. He could not embrace them and face his fear and guilt. They were like the ghosts of the Shin-Ra  
mansion. Floating...and intangible: Impossible to grasp and as empty as the mansion itself. He could hear them crying out in his soul, the ghastly wails haunting him with every breath he took. He could feel his heart screaming for justification, telling the specters that it wasn't his fault. But the ghastly wail of his inner banshee's cry drowned  
his dignity and his heart's song, causing only an annoying clash of emotions he could not quite hear. Only the haunting whispers of old ghosts and faded images...old memories not easily forgotten.  
  
He was so engulfed in thought, that he did not hear Tseng's winged shoes walking across the pavement until he was merely a few feet from them. "What if you could see her again, Vincent?"  
  
"I find that hardly amusing..."Vincent's voice trailed off coldly as he turned from his brother, obviously stating his unamusement.  
  
"It wasn't intended to be humorous." Tseng said sharply, peering down into this brother's back. Vincent's felt Tseng's icey stare upon his back drilling a hole through him and turned to face him.  
  
His brother's black eyes were a mirror of his own. So full of hurt and of pain. Standing next to Aeris, he appeared to be rigid and stiff. The two of them offering opposite images, presenting their differences even more.But since when has love been about differences?  
  
Vincent turned to Tseng. A wrench had been put around his heart and he felt it tightening by the second. He feared that if the grip of bonds on his heart tightened even a fraction of an inch, his heart would explode. He flexed his golden claw before him, feeling so isolated from the rest of the world.  
  
Tseng only continued to watch Vincent silently. Vincent managed to watch the couple as the trio stood in silence.  
  
" I could not face her again..." Vincent finally muttered. "Not...not like this..." Vincent paused as he began to walk on. "I...I am a monster."  
  
"Your appearance won't matter." Aeris whispered quietly,as she too began to walk.  
  
"No...I am a monster." Vincent said sharply as he quickened his pace as Aeris neared him. " On the inside as well..."Vincent whispered as he hung his head in disgust.  
  
He was once a Turk, and he was not proud of that fact. He stared down into his reflection in a murky puddle wondered what she had ever seen in him.  
  
Aeris turned to Tseng, pleading with her eyes for him to say something. Tseng only turned his head away, avoiding Aeris' glance. "This is something that he must work out for himself."  
  
Aeris stared at Tseng for a few more moments before she finally reverted her attention back to Vincent. As the trio continued on, Vincent kept his position in lead. He kept his mind focused on the task ahead as the continued their trek toward the Highwind. He had no idea how the rest of Avalanche would react to Tseng's presence. Perhaps they would take it better than they had with Sephiroth...   
  
******   
  
The florescent lights flickered in the Shin-Ra city hospital as the monorail outside the hospital rattled Rufus Shin-Ra's bedside window. The heart monitor beat an annoyingly regular intervals as Rufus flailed both of his arms wildly into the air sending two nurses stumbling backward from his hospital bed.   
  
"For the last time..."Rufus muttered as shoved the crowd of doctors and nurses away. "I am fine."  
  
"But Mr. Shin-Ra..." One of the nurses began.  
  
The shouts of confusion and pain echoed inside the tiny hospital room and quickly reverberated into the silence of the hallway and into the ears of the three Turks that had situated themselves on the old wooden benches just outside of the room.  
  
"It sounds like he's in pain..." Elena cringed as Rufus let out another whelp of pain followed by several angry remarks. She leaned back against the stone wall as she pushed her short blonde hair out of her blue eyes.  
  
"Good..." Reno sighed as he blew three smoke rings into the sterile hospital air, consciously not biding the hospital's non-smoking regulations.  
  
"What?!" Elena asked with a cocked eyebrow.  
  
"You heard me, Elena." Reno sighed as he held his cigarette between his middle and index fingers as he dropped his red head between his knees. "They guy deserved what he got."  
  
"I can't believe I'm hearing this..." Elena sighed as she threw her arms down in disgust."Can you believe him, Rude?" Elena quickly babbled like a small child.  
  
Rude quietly shook his head, agreeing with his sloppily dressed best friend. Rude was not a man of many words, but was certainly a man of action as had showed earlier that night. That night's events hung heavily on each of their hearts as each of them dealt with their pain in their own way.  
  
"UNGH!" I can't believe either of you!" Elena exclaimed.  
  
" I just can't believe he's gone..."Rude uttered from behind the dark sunglasses that hid any kind of emotion he might have shown.  
  
Rude's words hung heavily in the smoke filled hallway. Even Reno, the comedian of the group, seemed to be without remark. The three of them stood there silently like three children who had just been reprimanded by their parent, and perhaps, in a sense, they had. Tseng's absence was a punishment in itself, causing each of the Turks to feel alone, abandoned, and ultimately lost in the grand scheme dubbed the Shin-Ra. Tseng had given them purpose, a goal, and a reason to pursue their hopes and dreams as a role model to each of them. Now that he was gone, each of them wondered how they would ever continue their lives as Turks.  
  
Elena glanced out the window and silently prayed for the man she had secretly loved since the day she had joined the Turks. Although she had known from the beginning that Tseng's heart would always be with Aeris, Elena could not help but be attracted to the stoic man. His stern expression and work-aholic attitude only added to her admiration of of him. His deep heart and mysterious eyes were an addition to the already spawned fondness she found growing within her heart. Within her mind, she wished Tseng the best no matter where he was at the moment or who he was with. She smiled slightly as she caught a pang of jealousy within her heart as she envied Aeris. What a lucky woman she was. Where ever he was, she only wished for his happiness and safety where ever he may be.  
  
Reno caught Elena staring out of the window as he glanced up from the floor, and wondered what she may have been thinking. It was no secret between the three of them that she had a crush on Tseng, and Reno knew that it must have been breaking her heart. He also knew that Elena's heart wasn't the only heart broken that dismal night. Reno's father-like figure had walked out him that night, leaving him feeling alone and vulnerable  
for the first time since he joined the Turks's ranks. No one had ever had faith in the small red-headed man until he had met Tseng. Although Tseng never uttered a word of reassurance to him, Reno knew deep within his heart that the man cared deeply for each and everyone of them. It had been a new feeling for him and one, he found, that he  
enjoyed and now sorely missed. No one had ever given him purpose before. No one had ever given him a reason to live and to strive for a goal until the day he dawned on the doors of the Shin-Ra building. It felt as though someone had stolen something from the very depths of his soul. A soul that he had thought long since died. And a soul he began to search for answers...  
  
Rude watched as a bit of ash fell from Reno's cigarette and smothered out upon the dirty tile floor.Tseng had meant so much to Reno and Elena emotionally, but Rude found himself in another train of thought. He had always been the strong one of the group, always shunning emotion and hiding any trace of feeling he may have had within what seemed to be a heart of ice. Yet, Tseng had known better. Tseng knew him better than probably anyone on the face of the planet had with the exception of his best friend, Reno. Yet, Rude knew that wasn't what placed the burden upon his heart. A decision he had made earlier in the night may have completely changed not only his life, but the lives of his teammates, his family, forever. He had knocked the President of the Shin-Ra  
Cooperation unconscious, and although he hated to admit it, he actually enjoyed it. Now he was forced to wonder what the repercussions of his rash actions were and what effect they would have on his two friends that stood before him.  
  
Rufus's screams continued to echo down the hall until finally Reno threw his cigarette down on the floor and climbed to his feet. "That does it. I'm doing something about that!"  
  
Elena suddenly snapped to and her eyes widened as she watched Reno disappear into hospital rooms. "What is he doing?!" Elena hissed at Rude.  
  
Rude only shrugged as he watched his best friend emerge backwards from the room pulling the heavy metal door behind him. "There." Reno muttered as he retook his spot on wooden bench. Elena chuckled as Rude flashed a rare smile.  
  
Meanwhile, the doctors finally kept a arm's length distance away from the enraged President. One nurse had somehow managed to slip a blood pressure cup over Rufus arm and began to pump while Rufus continued to loudly protest his condition. A flood of memories from the past night suddenly began to flow through his mind.  
  
"I'm fine." He muttered as he tore the navy-blue cuff away from his arm, rendering the Velcro useless. "Where are those blasted Turks?!" He shouted as he quickly swung his legs over to the side of the bed.  
  
"Please remain calm, Mr. Shin-Ra." A wutian nurse softly pushed his upper body back into the large feather pillow that was propped up against the metal headboard. "The Turks have been waiting for you outside."  
  
"Blasted Turks?" Reno looked up from his position on the wooden bench and gazed around at his fellow teammates.  
  
"What do you suppose he meant by that?" Elena asked with a puzzled look in her blue eyes as she stared at the door.  
  
"You don't think he--?" Reno began in a panicked tone.  
  
"Calm down, Reno."Rude looked at him sternly as his monotone voice that gave Reno a little reassurance. "He shouldn't remember a-"  
  
Rude was suddenly cut short by the sound of the aluminum door slowly creaking open. Rude subconsciously with took a deep breath as Reno slumped over on the bench, letting his cigarette dangle a few inches from the dirty white-tiled floor.Elena pressed herself against the discolored dry wall as Rufus stepped through the door."May I have a word with you three?" Rufus's tone sent an icy chill down to the pit of their souls.  
  
Several doctors and nurses briskly walked past them, not wanting to be anywhere near the upcoming confrontation. Rufus peered into their backs until the last one had disappeared into the elevator. His angry glance then fell upon the Turks.  
  
"Where is he?" Rufus spoke lowly in a menacing voice.  
  
"Where's who,Boss?" Reno sighed as he tapped his cigarette, causing several bits of ashes to crumble to the floor. He smiled in his usual cauky grin, although he was no where near as cauky as he pretended to be. He knew fully well who Rufus was speaking of.  
  
Rufus's eyes narrowed as he glared down upon Reno's hunched back like a hawk spying on it's prey. "Where is Tseng?" He asked in a dark tone.  
  
Elena tilted her head curiously. "Tseng who?" Elena smiled.  
  
"You know darn well who I'm talking about." Rufus's shouts echoed down the long, once silent hallway. The exertion made him slightly dizzy and he leaned on the door frame with an out stretched arm.   
  
As Rude looked at the President with a look of concern, he heard the faint click of a bullet dropping into the cold, irony chamber of a pistol. Two feminine hands suddenly emerged from the hospital room door and grabbed Reno by shoulder,slamming him back against the wall with a sickening thud as he head crashed against drywall. As Elena jumped to Reno's side, she felt someone jerk her right arm, reversing her momentum. In a matter of moments, Elena found herself in the grips of a headlock, slowly cutting off her flow of air as her assailant increased the pressure against her Adam's Apple. Rude cringed as the cold steel of the pistol's barrel was placed against his bald head. Rude knew that the battle was over before it ever truely began.  
  
  
  
  
  



	6. Default Chapter Title

As they trudged through the hillsides,the midday sun only made Vincent's solemn life that much more unbearable.  
  
"Am I monster?" Vincent began to ponder as he continued to march forward. "Do I even deserve the label of 'man'? He wondered as he flexed his golden claw before him, reflecting the noonday sun.I am too much of a monster to remain with the humane, and too humane to remain with the monsters. I was a Turk. I am the murderer of an innocent woman. Hojo, why did you bring this curse upon me?! "  
  
He continued to march on, his gold-toed boots trampled the golden weeds underneath his footfall and lost deep thought as Tseng and Aeris marched hand in hand silently through the tall grass that abounded in the landscape. The Highwind was still a day's walk away, but home seemed to get further and further away. Whatever home was..."Home is where the heart is, and I have begun to doubt if there even is a heart within  
me..."  
  
"Why do you torture yourself so?" A voice emerged from within the cold,depths of his mind. "Why do you blame yourself?"  
  
"Because I am guilty." He mentally shot back at the intruding voice,not at all pleased by this intrusion of his thoughts. He tried to shun his mind of the presence he felt within himself, but alas, like his aching heart, nothing seemed to ease within his mind.  
  
"Who was the judge of your crimes?" The voice asked in an erie,yet familiar tone that pierced Vincent's heart in it's darkmost places. He felt the innermost parts of his being probed as these questions were being asked of him. It was as if the seringe that Hojo had used upon to Lucrecia to add life to her son was now draining emotion from his very soul.  
  
Vincent paused for a moment, as if weighing two different options. "I am my own prosecutor and my own judgment rings true through the laws of my heart."  
  
"Cannot the warden of your heart pardon your lifetime of your guilt? Aren't you the keeper of your own heart...--"  
  
A soft hand fell upon his sun-warmed shoulders, interrupting his battle with his own  
conscious."Vincent?" Aeris asked concernly as she looked into his crimson eyes as he titled her head to look into the eyes of Vincent's drooping one.  
  
"I was only thinking,Aeris." Vincent said sharply as he quickened his pace, to avoid   
confrontation with Aeris about his guilt. "The...mind tends to wonder out here." He finished quickly.  
  
Aeris smiled guienunely as watched the small droplets of sweat drip off of Vincent's pale,slinder face.She often wondered what ran through his mind as she often wondered the same of Tseng.  
  
"Maybe we should stop and rest." Aeris said, glancing back at Tseng and hoping that the exhaustion was not too apparent in her voice. "I'll go get some water from the spring we just past." Without a second's hesitation or time for either man to say otherwise, Aeris quickly sprinted down the grassy hill toward the spring, leaving the two men alone in an ackward silence.  
  
Tseng mentally cursed Aeris for leaving them alone as he watched her disappear over the hill. He was never especially good at talking to people on emotional matters and he knew that was Aeris's reasoning for taking off so quickly. Vincent lowered himself to the ground as Tseng slowly approached him with long, deliberate steps. He stood there for  
several moments, surveying the remote landscape until the silence weighed too much on his heart for him to allow it to continue any longer. His conscience had toiled with him ever since they had departed from the Shin-Ra building. Something had to be said.  
  
"Vincent?" Tseng asked in usual monotone, business-like voice that he frequently used when speaking to other members of the Shin-Ra.  
  
Vincent heard his brother's voice over the soft rustle of the wind,and let his words linger until he felt the piercing sting of Tseng's cold eyes burning through his back."What is it,Tseng?" Vincent muttered as he continued to stare out into the open fields before them.  
  
"Why--"Tseng's voice staggered as cut himself off, as if unsure if he wanted to continue. "Why do you continue to blame yourself? It was not your fault."  
  
Vincent surprised Tseng as he quickly pivoted to his right on the edge of his pelvic bone to face him. Although surprised, Tseng's face was one of cool, calm, and collectiveness. Not a muscle flinched as he looked into his brother's eyes transcending past the pain and to the heart of the matter. Vincent continued to stare at him for a few  
more moments before finally speaking. "I don't see why you should care."  
  
"I care..."Tseng began, "because you are my brother." He said solemnly as his face softened marginally as a long pause ensued.Vincent began to turn away until he heard the last phrase that was spoken by Tseng. "And because...,"he paused once more," you are the only family I have left."  
  
Vincent looked up at the man in disbelief, never expecting to hear such words coming from Tseng's lips. He shook off the feeling of hope he felt welling up in his throat knowing that this would only lead to more heartache, but he could not help a small bit of curiosity that seeped into his mind as he once again turned away.  
  
"I never once blamed you for what happened that night in Nibelheim." He said sharply as his voice returned to it's normal stoic tone. He took one step to be in-line with Vincent's sitting body. Vincent looked up at him as if unsure of what to say, but within his heart he felt as though a tremendous weight had been lifted off of his burdened soul.  
Tseng, although not an overly perceptive man, could immediately feel a loss of tension emerging from Vincent's body. He smiled innerly, knowing that his mission had been completed as Aeris slowly emerged over the hill with two small canteens.Vincent merely nodded at Tseng as he arose to his feet, but unnoticed by the untrained eye,a silence thanks had been given.  
  
  
  
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Reno awoke with a splitting headache as the room slowly came into focus out of a blackened haze. He found Elena leaning over him, studying him with her big, curious,blue eyes as Rude also came into his line of sight. It took him a couple of seconds to realize that he was lying on a cot of a Shin-Ra prison cell.  
  
"Wha--what happened?" Reno stuttered as he slowly arose, rubbing the back of his throbbing head. He removed his hand from his messy red hair to find it caked in a mixture of fresh and dry blood. He stared it blankly for a few moments, before finally looking up at Rude.  
  
"We were ambushed." Rude muttered with his back turned to Reno as he stiffly walked away from the cot.  
  
Reno tried to shake the disorientation out of his head as he swung his skinny legs over the edge of the bed. "I could've told you that." Reno muttered as he hung his head for a minute, letting the throbbing ease. He then, fished into his pocket.  
  
"I think they were professionals..."Rude said quietly.  
  
After not finding what he was searching for, he reached into his right pocket, searching with a little bit of haste."They had to be to take us down."   
  
"What are you looking for,Reno?" Elena asked as she sat down on the cot beside him. With a frantic look, Reno began to pat himself down, searching frantically.   
  
Suddenly, a pack of cigarettes flew through the air and skidded to a stop at Reno's feet. Reno leaned down,picked them up with one hand, and studied the label for a brief moment."Are those what you're looking for?" A taunting female voice asked from the behind the other side of the bars. It was then that the Turks noticed Rufus standing before them with 2 unknown women and a man.Rude immediately recognized the man as the  
one who had held him at gun point earlier. He remained silent, and only offered the man an icy glare. Two of them were dressed in suits close to those that the Turks wore. The third, a woman who wore a yellow trench coat that made her stand out from the other 3 less colorfully dressed.   
  
"Thanks,Babe." He muttered as stuck a cigarette between his lips.He reached into his pocket again, and muttered something as he realized that his lighter was also gone."I see you picked up a few chicks and a body guard, Rufus." Reno said absently as he flicked the unused cigarette against the cell wall. "You know how to pick'em." Reno grinned slyly as he glanced at Rufus out of the corner of his eye and looked the two women over.  
  
"Shut-up,pig." The blonde woman spoke sharply and with such authority that it made Reno wince.  
  
"Not quite,Reno." Rufus gave a contented smile. "I'd like you all to meet the *new* Turks: Sean." He nodded to the stiffly poised man in the dark, blue Turks suit."Chase." He nodded to the blonde woman who was also in the Turks dark suit, as she gave an acknowledging nod to the replaced Turks. "And Ace." Rufus smiled smugly as he watched older Turk's reactions.  
  
"You can't do that!" Elena shouted as she rushed to the barred area, each hand clasping a bar angrily until her knuckles were ghastly white. "*We're* the Turks!" Elena placed her face against the cold, iron bars giving Rufus a pleading look as he began to pace in front of the ex-Turks with a smug grin plastered across his wry face.  
  
"Not anymore,Elena..."Rude whispered softly to Elena, never taking his eyes off of the four people who stood before him. Sean and Chase exchanged knowing,yet solemn looks that made Rude wonder what was going through their heads. The man seemed familiar to him as if he knew him in another life or another time. But ghosts of the past were not a matter he preferred to be occupied with at the moment. He had more pressing matters to deal with.  
  
"So let me get this straight..."Reno began as he slowly stood and approached the bars. "You've got a chick with an attitude, a guy who thinks he's a statue, and another chick who thinks she's a raincoat model. You must be desperate to get these clowns."  
  
He noticed Sean's eyes narrow upon him, and as much as he tried to ignore the burning sensation of being stared at, he couldn't help but feel as if the man's eyes were burning straight through him.  
  
"Don't you all have better things to do?" Elena sneered at the new Turks.  
  
"Yeah, we have better things to do than trash sit." Sean muttered just loud enough for the three jail birds to hear.  
  
"Why I outta...?!" Reno charged the bars, forgetting that he was imprisoned reaching for Sean through the iron bars. Sean only smiled as he watched Reno angrily push himself away from the bars and plopped down on the small cot once more,fuming.  
  
"Come on." Rufus smiled as he turned to walk away. "I have other business for you to attend to."  
  
Rufus pivoted on the heel of his boot and proceeded to march out of the jail door, with his white tails flailing behind him. The three Turks stood there in silence as clicking of Rufus's boots echoed down the long,barren corridor.   
  
"You've got a lotta' flippin' nerve to stand here and rub it in our faces."Reno muttered as he placed his hands behind his head and leaned back against the yellowed cement wall.   
  
"Do we now?" Ace's eyes narrowed as she flipped a small metallic object into the cell, causing Rude to fumble the object before finally grasping hold of it in his right hand. He opened his battle-scarred hand to find a small zippo lighter wedged within the crevices of his large palm. He tossed to the unsuspecting Reno, who also fumbled it until he caught it in the nook between his upper and forearm. He quickly removed it and flicked the metallic hinge backwards, and lit his cigarette. He coolly blew three smoke rings before looking Ace in the eye. "If you think giving me a lighter and cigs is going to make up for beatin' my head in,Babe, you've got another thing comin'." Reno sighed as he released three smoke rings from his lips.  
  
Ace threw her hands down in frustration as she marched out of the room angrily, leaving Sean and Chase to listen to her fumes echoed down the corridor as she followed Rufus down the concrete stairs. "I don't even see why you two are wasting your time with those jerks." Ace shouted from behind a dividing wall.  
  
"We'll be with you in a second,Ace." Chase hollered after her. "We just need to have a *little talk* with our..."She paused,smiling evilly. " former selves."  
  
Ace's laughter continued to echo down the stairs until it became a small whisper as she reached the floor below them, leaving Sean, Chase,Reno, Rude, and Elena in a silent stare-down. Chase stood stiffly with her arms crossed as did Sean as both of them leaned against the outer wall.Reno continued to puff smoke out of the cigarette that hung limply from his lips as he sat hunched over on the cot, staring into the depths of each of their souls. Rude continued his rigid position as he stood, unmoving, glaring at the two through his dark sunglasses, wondering why the man before him seemed so familiar. His facial features were identical to a man who used to work for the Shin-Ra, but the man had turned traitor as Tseng had done earlier--Had Tseng left them rot? Rude quickly banished that thought from his mind as he continued the stare-down. It wasn't until Elena sighed that the silence was shattered and a small grin began to form on Sean's lips. Chase  
gave him an odd look as she stared up into his face, wondering what he was thinking.  
  
"Will you stop the staring already?" Reno sighed as he finally removed himself from the cot, and approached the bars. "You're making me feel like one of Hojo's freaky experiments."  
  
Chase watched as a wave of hatred flashed before Sean's eyes, and before she could react he had reached into the bars,grabbed Reno by his unironed shirt, and slammed him into the iron bars, causing crimson to leak from his broken nose in one fluid motion. He twisted the fabric of Reno's shirt tightly around his clenched fist, making the collar smaller as Reno gasped for air."Don't you ever say that again." Rude used both of his powerful hands to separate the two as Chase grabbed Sean by the shoulders and lightly thrusted him backwards enough for him to loosen his grip.  
  
"Calm down, Sean." Chase said softly as she laid a hand upon one of his tense shoulders. "He didn't know."  
  
"You're right." Sean muttered as he retreated to the back wall and leaned against it as he hung his head and folded his arms closely around his body as if he had be wounded by some unknown assailant.  
  
"Know what?" Elena asked quietly,looking ruefully as she curiously approached the bars. "You're not...one of Hojo's experiments...are you?"  
  
A few moments of silence past as all eyes fell upon him."No..."Sean began, his voice was very monotone and cold. Chase's eyes were full of worry as she watched him. It was obvious to the three imprisoned that she cared about him very much.Sean finally glanced upward and looked Elena directly in the eye."But I...knew several."  
  
Elena cocked her head to one side as she watched the man sympathetically. Even Reno had no sarcastic remarks as he solemnly stared down at the floor. Rude continued to stare ahead, trying to be strong.  
  
Chase finally returned her attention to the three within the cell. "Both...of our families were destroyed by Hojo." Chase said flatly as she approached the cell and leaned on the ledge that jutted out beyond the bars. Her head was also hung, and the five sat in silence until Reno's cough shattered the silence, but the cough did not draw the attention of any of the other 4. Each of them were lost in their own thoughts until Ace finally burst through the door.  
  
"Hey, aren't you all coming? Rufus already decided their fate." Ace said as she looked the 5 over.  
  
Sean suddenly snapped to as did Chase. He quickly pivoted on the heels of his winged shoes. "What did he say?" He snapped.  
  
Ace looked down at her boots and shuffled her feet for a few moments before looking at the three prisoners. "Rufus wants to send them to Hojo." She said flatly, trying to keep any emotion out of her voice,but her eyes bore the sadness that the others felt. Elena turned to Reno and began to sob on his shoulder as he remained speechless, hunched over on the cot with his hands dangling between his knees. Rude slammed his fist into the wall in frustration as Reno finally looked up.  
  
"I'm...sorry." Ace sputtered.As she looked at Sean and Chase, she was relieved to know that they shared her feelings of compassion toward the three. "But there's nothing we can do..."  
  
Sean watched Elena continue to cry upon Reno's shoulder as Reno gave him a pleading look."I don't care what they do to me." Reno said quietly as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Just don't...don't let them do anything to Elena."  
  
Rude slowly approached the bars, his face was solemn as ever, but a aura of humility could be felt radiating from him."Please."Rude said as he looked them in the eye. " You said that Hojo tore your family apart. Well, the Turks are my family."He paused to look at each of his cell mates. "If you have any decency left in you, would you please get Elena out of here."  
  
"You're wrong."  
  
"What?" Chase asked as she looked up at Sean quizzically.  
  
"Ace is wrong." Sean said sharply as he looked the three imprisoned Turks in the eye and then at Chase and Ace. "There is something we can do."   
  
Both Chase and Ace watched in silence as Sean pulled the PHS out of his trench coat pocket and handed it to Rude through the iron bars. "This could be your last chance." Sean said grimly. "You better make it worth your while."  
  
  
  
  
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After a few moments of rest, Vincent,Aeris, and Tseng continued on their way up a grassy hill, exhausted, yet slightly relieved from their journey. Tseng noted that Vincent had a more determined step in his walk as he continued forward, and became somewhat pleased by the progress they had made, although he would never verbally admit that. Their lives had been hard, and hardened by fate. Was it any wonder that Vincent felt the way he did?  
  
Tseng felt a soft, warm hand slip into his own as he found Aeris looking fondly into his stern face. A small smile crept across his face as he looked into her own. Her eyes were the window into her soul, and if it were not for the grace and beauty he found within those eyes and her innocent soul, he realized that life would not have been worth living.  
All of the death...the attrocities ..the innocent blood he could have stopped from being spilled although he never shot without proper reason, and yet he still bore the cross and conviction. And it struck him. It struck him harder than any blow he had ever received in the course of his painful existance.A sword of realization struck him in his most vulnerable spot as the most frightening thought haunted his very existence." If something were to happen to her...What if it had been her instead of Lucrec--" He thought as he felt the icy grip of loneliness and guilt envelope his heart. "Was this the way that Vincent felt? This empty void...this gaping hole...This...?  
  
He suddenly shook his head, realizing that none of that mattered as she squeezed her hand in his. The warmth of her love always seemed to save him from the pit of despair. He jumped as he heard the faint ringing of his PHS inside of his jacket pocket. Aeris quietly released his hand as he reached into his pocket to answer it.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Tseng,sir,this is Elena."Elena said hurriedly."Rufus remembered what happened. We're in jail...and-and," Elena paused, catching herself before letting out a muffled sob.  
  
"He's going to send us to the croc doc, Hojo."Reno finished her sentence.  
  
Vincent could feel the tension rising in the air as Tseng's eyes widened. Aeris watched him with concern as he laid her hand atop his upper arm. Vincent felt in the pit of his stomach by the bond he shared with his brother that something was definitely wrong.  
  
"I know you're like gone and all, but you've gotta do something." Reno pleaded into the PHS, trying to keep panic out of his voice, as he had been taught to do by the man several years earlier.  
  
Vincent took a step closer to Tseng, as he watched his knuckled grow from a healthy pink to a ghastly white. The color had also seemed to drain from his face as he continued to listen upon the PHS. His enhanced senses he gained from his experimentation heard the sounds of his racing heart beat as he took another step closer.  
  
"I'll be there." Tseng said calmly as if nothing had happened. "Hang on."Tseng slowly closed the PHS and looked down at the ground as if debating something. He looked in Aeris's questioning eyes and into Vincent's stormy gaze. He had put them in enough danger. He must face this one alone.  
  
He pivoted on the heel of boot, not saying a word as marched back in the direction of Midgar, leaving Vincent and Aeris to only stare at his back in utter confusion. It took every ounce of strength Tseng had to take the next step. He hoped and desperately prayed that she would just let him go and not utter a word, for if she spoke, he feared his heart would shatter and the lives of three innocent people would be horrifically changed forever as his and Vincent's had. Unfortunately, it was a wish made in vain.  
  
"Tseng?" She whispered hoarsely.  
  
He froze, unable to lift a limb as he didn't even need to turn around to know that a tear was welling up her eyes.   
  
"Tseng, where are you...going?" She whispered hoarsely as she took one step closer to him.  
  
"I don't love you." Tseng said sharply as he took another step toward Midgar with his head held dignantly up.  
  
"You what?!" Aeris voice cracked, making him stop once more.  
  
"YOU HEARD ME!" Tseng shouted, as he felt his world crumbling around him. As he began to walk away, he heard the explosion of a muffled sob, and he couldn't help but look over his shoulder to see Aeris leaning on Vincent's shoulder. His heart shattered into a million unrepairable pieces as he looked into Vincent's eyes. "I have to go."  
  
"No, you don't." Vincent replied sharply, piercing through the fog of Tseng's lying eyes. "You're not going," he paused," without us."  
  
"You don't understand." Tseng said sharply. "It's my fault Elena,Reno, and Rude are going to suffer at Hojo's hands. I *HAVE* to get them back."  
  
"Are their lives more important than her's?" Vincent asked softly as he glanced down upon Aeris.  
  
A long pause ensued as Aeris slowly raised her head from Vincent's shoulder, her beautiful eyes questioning him. He could never lie to those blue eyes. "No." Tseng said quickly. "And that is why she must stay here with you. You have to protect her, Vincent."  
  
"I'm going with you." Aeris said firmly as she boldly strode up to him.   
  
"And so am I." Vincent agreed as he arrived next to Aeris and Tseng.  
  
"It will not be easy." Tseng muttered as he took another step toward Midgar.  
  
"That," Vincent paused as he removed his own PHS from his pocket," is why I am requesting some assistance."   
  
  
  
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Any Questions, comments,or snide remarks? Please send them to: cykeclops@aol.com . All comments are welcomed and appreciated.  
Ace was created by Beck240  
Chase was created AOPCMav   
  



	7. Default Chapter Title

Underneath the starlit night and the soft neon glow off of the florescent signs that seemed to litter Midgar's polluted skylight, Vincent Valentine's solemn expression expressed the way the others felt in their hearts. The lights reflected brightly off of his jet-black hair as he studied the group's newest reinforcements for the first time. Since Avalanche was already involved in another mission, Cloud could only afford to send two members of his party. Vincent was surprised that he sent the two at all considering this was more of a favor for Tseng than anyone else. In all actuality, Vincent was not surprised that Cloud sent the overpowering Sephiroth to aide in this mission. From the beginning, Vincent felt a distinct hatred emitting from Cloud every time he laid eyes upon the man he viewed as the devil himself. He also knew that Cloud's secret sweet-heart,Tifa Lockheart, bore ill-will towards the man as well. In his heart, Vincent knew that Sephiroth was a changed man. How could anything so defiled have come from an angel of heaven? The only answer he could devise was that nothing could, and the man was only mislead as was he in his dealing with the Shin-Ra. He felt a common bond between he, himself, and Tseng that could more than likely never be put into spoken words. The guilt and betrayal of the soul was a knife that only those who's pain it had inflicted could understand. The soul of the traitor could never be trusted even by the possessor, himself, Vincent believed. Was it any wonder that he, or any of them, felt so alone?   
  
Beside Sephiroth sat the most bizarrest of sights. The red lion, Nanaki, sat there in perfect poise, looking as noble and yet as innocent as ever. It was his presence that perplexed Vincent so much. RedXIII, as the Shin-Ra's Professor Hojo had dubbed him, was an excellent fighter and a more than able materia user. His personality and demeanor was very calm and nonjudgmental, making him seemingly one of the best warriors Avalanche had. Vincent suddenly got the distinct impression that Red volunteered or was nominated for this journey for being the only member of Avalanche besides himself and Aeris that trusted Sephiroth, and would dare risk traveling with him. Red's fiery red tail swished softly into the night as Vincent awaited Tseng's command as they stood at the corner of the vile Shin-Ra Headquarters, awaiting the precise time to enter the building.   
  
Aeris stared out into what was visible of the starlit night. Her nervousness was visible as she wrung her staff nervously within the palms of her hands. Her blue eyes were once again a sea of worry as she turned her head to look upon Tseng as he waited for the guards to drift asleep. Even if they never feel asleep, Tseng knew that the guards were never beyond bribery. The Shin-Ra paid them cheaply and Tseng knew that every ounce of gil they could earn was considered a blessing no matter what the source.   
  
Although he never took his eyes away from the guards and tried to concentrate with every ounce of his worth, he could not help but have his mind wonder...wonder into the darkness of anxiety and ponder the fates of the few that awaited him inside. They were the only family he had, and each, he admitted, although he was their superior, had taught him some of life's most invaluable lessons. Although they may never know the extent to which they had a profound effect upon his life, he realized that he owed them his. They had taught him things--feelings that, at one time, he knew he could never feel again because their pain was too much to bare. But as he watched them, inwardly laughing with them, inwardly crying with them, he began to regain something he believed he would never find again. A soul. And the will to live once more after Hojo's experimentation on him and Lucrecia's and seemingly Vincent's deaths.   
  
"The only family I had left...They only family I left behind..." Tseng thought remorsefully." How could I have been so foolish?! I left them to rot thinking that they would not atone for my crimes, but I, of all people, should have known better."   
  
"I was a young Turk once..." He whispered to himself, noting the whispers themselves becoming lost and shuffled through the cold wind that blew through Midgar. "Lost like the memories of the past..." He paused. " I was a young Turk once...under the command of..." He stopped to intake a breath. " Vincent Valentine."   
  
One of the guards was anxiously pacing in front of the double-glass doors, and due to his irregular habit of pacing, Tseng knew that the man was a new recruit. The second guard yawned lazily as he leaned against the stone entryway. Twice, he scolded the new recruit for being so worried, but the new recruit never relaxed even after the first had fallen asleep.   
  
Aeris quietly chanted sleep combined with an All materia she had borrowed from Red, and watched as younger soldier slumped down upon the concrete stairs of the building and had sealed the other guard in his blissful slumber state.   
  
"The security cameras?" Vincent asked as he turned to Tseng with an arched eyebrow.   
  
"We'll have to dispose of them as we come to them." Tseng said quickly as he motioned for the others to follow. "Come on."   
  
Tseng quickly glanced from side to side to reassure himself that no one was watching before he took one step into the flood lights that covered the entrance to the Shin-Ra HQ. Vincent quickly fired his death penalty, taking out the first of several security cameras they would find along their trek to rescue the three Turks. Tseng nodded a gesture of thanks at Vincent as the group proceeded forward, some of them with their hearts in their throats and others with the calm realization that this night may be their last.   
  
  
  
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Meanwhile, 50 floors above the stealthy rescue party, the three Turks retreated from the buzzing confusion of the Shin-Ra employee cafeteria, and now sat over cups of cola and steaming hot coffee in one of the residential rooms that the Turks were forced to reside in. Sean carefully folded and laid his trench coat over the double bed, and then approached the small table with a solemn silence. Chase glanced up at him as she took a sip of her steaming black coffee and watched him quietly pull a chair over the lumpy, red carpet. Ace glanced up over her cup of cola as Sean finally situated himself within the chair and took of sip of his own drink. The three sat in agonizing silence as they stared at each other for long moments, taking an occasional break to sip their drinks until finally Chase decided to break the heavy silence.   
  
"We've got to do something." Chase said quietly, without looking at the other two as she sat her coffee mug down upon the oak table with a quiet clank and stared into the steaming, dark liquid as if she were afraid of their responses. Her own family and tribe had been maliciously murdered by monsters that she had suspected slithered out from Hell itself. Midgar's own little piece of Hell on the sixty-fifth floor on the Shin-Ra Building. A realm that the ignorant casually labeled Dr. Hojo's laboratory, and what the knowing heartlessly ignored...until now.   
  
She was also aware of Sean's bitter encounters with the Shin-Ra from the kidnapping and experimenting on his younger brother, Scott, to the death of his own Mother. Even his Father, Reeve, was once a member of the vile organization until he too, learned of their conspiracies and hidden crimes that were buried beneath a blanket of excuses and rationalizations. Although Sean had never seemed fond of his Father, she wondered if he too, had realized the need for action. He had become embittered by the Shin-Ra's lethal grasp around his life, and had become somewhat cold and unfeeling to those around him with the exception of her and Ace. When they were around a certain softness appeared in his eyes that told both of them of his genuine friendship and trust of them. Whether Sean would admit or not, she knew that deep within his rigid, impersonal self, that he earnestly cared for the people around him...including his Father.   
  
Chase was mildly surprised when she saw Sean nod his head silently out of the corner of her eye, and was even more surprised by Ace's agreement. "But it's not like we can do anything about it. If we even look at them weirdly, Rufus'll have us thrown in jail so fast, it'll make our heads spin." She said with a nervous laugh.   
  
"She's right." Sean muttered as he leaned back in his chair slouched in his seat slightly, taking a sip of his cola, and retreating to his own thoughts as apparently did Chase and Ace. A dead silence once again fell upon the small sparsely decorated room for several lengthy moments as Sean straightened his tie out of nervousness and Ace fidgeted within her seat until Chase began to notice a small, sinister grin grow upon Sean's usual stoic face. " Unless we're caught."   
  
Ace blinked in puzzlement and pure shock, her mouth was slightly ajar as Chase leaned forward, placing both of her elbows upon the table. She leaned closer, narrowing her eyes down upon him as if taken in by the simple notion. "What did you have in mind?" She grinned slyly.   
  
Sean leaned forward, resting his folded arms upon the table as well as he began to tell his the other two women of his idea. His normal stoic demeanor began to appear once more. "Okay. We know that at least Tseng is coming."He paused, saying a silent prayer for him." For all we know, though, there could be more."   
  
Chase nodded as she listened to Sean intently. "Let's stick with what we do know, then." Chase said sharply while Ace nodded as she too, listened closely to Sean's monotone, emotionless words.   
  
"The first obstacle that Tseng will face, "Sean sighed, "will be the security cameras. I'll take care of that problem on the security level." Sean said in a determined tone as he leaned in closer and looked both of the beautiful women in the eye.   
  
"What about the guards?" Ace whispered quietly as she pushed her cola to the side and rested her elbows upon the table, still not completely sure as to why she became involved in this fiasco. There was the obvious fact that no one deserved to be left for dead in the arms of the heinous Dr. Hojo, but no...There was an elusive feeling deep within her gut that she could not quite discern. She briefly wondered if the others were having similar thoughts as she leaned back in her cushioned chair once more, folding her arms across her chest in contemplation.   
  
Sean, then, turned from Ace to Chase. "Can you handle the guards?"   
  
Chase nodded sharply, but Sean found a small glint of fear in her beautiful blue eyes, and for a moment, became lost in the ocean of softness and worry she felt for him. They had known each other for quite some time now, but their feelings for each other had only recently been revealed. He would do anything humanly possible to keep her safe from harm even if it meant his own demise. He almost suggested that she stay with him as he shutoff the security cameras, but he knew she would never stand for such a thing. She was strong and independent. Not the type that needed someone to be her pillar of strength. He wished with all of his heart that he could take her hand in his and comfort her, but he was too frightened to even attempt it. Beneath the cold exterior he seemed to portray, his heart pounded in electric fear, wanting to just act upon his feelings for her, but his shyness prevailed. He slightly slumped down into his seat in utter defeat.   
  
"Sean?" Chase asked, looking at him quizzically as he snapped to. "If you don't want to do this I'll--"   
  
"No." Sean said sharply, trying to keep the flush red color out of his embarrassed cheeks. "I was just thinking. That's all." Chase looked away, and for a moment he was genuinely afraid that he may have frightened her.   
  
"And what about me?"   
  
Sean turned to Ace and looked her directly in the eye with his own cold, icy blue eyes. "You're going to make sure that Hojo doesn't get to the other Turks before Tseng does." Sean said quickly. "Just stand by the cell and stop Hojo if you see him. I'll be up there as soon as I disrupt the security cameras from the control room. We'll all meet up there after we finish."   
  
Ace nodded as she began to pull herself away from the table, her brown hair falling in front of her face as she pushed her chair in. As Chase began to stand, Sean almost reached up and grabbed her arm, but at the last moment, retreated with fear. With a look of no emotion, Sean stood and grabbed his brown trench coat off of the bed with an almost angry jerk as he turned out the lights. This would be a night to remember.   
  
  
  
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"Are you sure he's coming?" He whined.   
  
"Yes, Reno." Rude muttered disgruntledly as he ran his fingers down his bald head down into his face. "I've already told you that."   
  
"Oh." Reno said as he placed his hands behind his messy, brown hair and stretched across the white-sheeted cot once more. "I was only asking for Elena's sake." He said coolly, trying to hide his own worry and fear with his usual cockiness.   
  
"But I--?" Elena began, a puzzled look beginning to form upon her face her soft face. "I never..."   
  
"You can thank me later, Elena." Reno said quickly as rolled over to avoid looking Elena squarely in the eye and to face the hard, aluminum walls that surrounded them. It was increasingly difficult not to think of themselves as three sardines in can, waiting for liberated into an even more worse fate.   
  
Elena only turned away, not even wanting to question Reno's odd behavior. Her mind was on other things. Her fate and Tseng for the most part."Rude?" She asked in a small, timid voice. "W-What do you think..."Elena paused for moment, taking a deep, calming breath. "Doctor Hojo will do to us?" She whispered softly, earnestly trying to keep the fear from her voice, although her innocent blue eyes showed the fear she so desperately tried to hide.   
  
Rude looked at her sadly through his dark sunglasses for a moment, wishing he had a better answer than the one he had to offer. He wished that he could lie to her. Tell her that everything was going to be alright,but no matter how hard he tried, he could not lie to her. It was useless to get her hopes up. He stared down at his shoes as he watched his fingers dangle near the floor as he tried to avoid her questioning eyes. His heart was pounding with fear as he knew her's was, but he had to maintain a cool exterior. He *had* to. For their sake. After a few moment's of silence, Rude looked up, feeling her eyes burn upon his back, trying not to let her eyes pierce his own heart. "I...honestly don't kno--"   
  
Reno quickly interrupted him. "You don't have ta' worry about that, Elena." Reno flashed one his trademark grins as rolled over and propped his head up on the palm of his hand. "Tseng's gonna come. So don't even think about it." It was a grin that he used all to often. One way or the another, he learned that his grin usually answered the unanswerable. When he could no longer tell the truth, because the truth hurt too much to tell. The grin he used when people asked how his parents died or what was it like to be a cold-blooded killer for the Turks. It was literally an unspoken lie, and lie he hoped, for Elena's sake, that she bought.   
  
Rude glanced at Reno over the top of his sunglasses with an arched eyebrow, caught off-guard by Reno's revelation. But somehow, Reno knew that his best friend saw through his well-used guise. Rude knew him all too well.   
  
"That's nice of you to say, Reno." Elena's voice quivered as she climbed from her seat upon the edge of the cot, and looked down at him. "But..."Elena paused, regaining her composure, as she turned to face Rude with eyes that pleaded in vain. " But we all know that Tseng's going to need a miracle to--"   
  
"To what?" A voiced echoed from beyond the cell block door.   
  
"Great." Reno sighed as he took another puff of his cigarette. "We definitely know he isn't going to make it now the whole stinkin' world knows!"   
  
The sound of women's footsteps began to echo down the long, once silent, corridor. Rude glanced up as Reno lazily raised his head off of the foam pillow and looked through the cell door. There, clad her in yellow trench coat, stood Ace, one of the new Turks with a small smirk upon her face.   
  
"What do you want?" Reno asked lazily with a hint of sarcasm as he rolled back over to face the wall.   
  
"You wanted a miracle?" Ace said sharply as she looked Rude and Elena in the eye as she retrieved her gun from her holster. "You've got one."   
  
  
  
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Even the sounds of their rhythmic footsteps made Vincent increasingly edgy as every silent moment seemed like an eternity in hell. He grasped his gun so tightly his knuckles were white as innocent, white snow as he entered the lair of the monster that was the cause of his dilemma. His fists tightened as did his chest as the flood of memories poured back into his soul. He fought off the tears as he continued marching, following Tseng and trusting him with his life, as Tseng had once done to him so many years ago in Nibelheim.If history were any precognition of what was preceding them, they would surely die, and for once, Vincent thought, he was not going to let his past interfere with their future. Although he doubted the pain and the agony would every fully fill the gaping hole he felt within his soul, at least two other souls could comprehend his pain, for he knew, they had felt it too.   
  
Sephiroth, for one, being raised in a cold, harsh environment, never getting the childhood he so wantingly deserved. Always struggling to live to be the man that everyone saw him be, instead of the man he truly was inside. He never allowed himself a single pleasure or the lingering taste of one sweet emotion until the day a dam broke inside of him, causing every emotion to lash out so violently that even his own mind could not comprehend their meaning. Jenova had decided to manipulate her parodical son for her own use, and as any son would have done for his lost parent's acceptance, he followed her into the darkness of her own insanity. A pit unto which the walls continued to grow as Jenova toiled maliciously with his soul until the day that she did not answer his questions any longer...Or rather, Vincent thought, it was he that did not accept her answers any more...   
  
A woman's voice echoed across the barren hallways from the loudspeaker that made both Aeris and Red jump with anxiety, and awoke Vincent from his daze. "Attention all security personnel: There is an intruder at the Number 2 docking bay. Floors 1 and 69 have already been secured. Report to the Number 2 docking bay immediately."   
  
"Blast." Vincent muttered underneath his breath.   
  
"Wait..."Red, paused with a small look of confusion upon his face. " We're on the first floor."   
  
"You're inteligence is admirable, Cat." Sephiroth muttered sarcastically as he drew his masume with a sharp look that told that he may have been enjoying this exercise.   
  
Vincent shot Sephiroth a sideways glance as he spotted @ motion-sensor security camera. "Sephiroth." Vincent nodded at the camera.   
  
With one fluid, graceful motion, Sephiroth brought the masume down upon the camera, slicing it into two equal parts with amazing precision returned to his normal, rigid stance as if nothing had happened.   
  
Seemingly unamazed by Sephiroth's talents, Tseng glanced further down the lobby to where the elevators were located. "Let's go."Tseng muttered. "We don't have much time."   
  
"I suspect they have already sealed off the elevators."Sephiroth commented flatly as he too began to look toward the elevators. Tseng only nodded in response as he stealthily walked like a cat on the prowl in silence as to not alert it's prey.   
  
Aeris put her hand upon Tseng's shoulder and he stopped, feeling a little guilty for bringing her and endangering her life."But if the elevator doors are locked..."Aeris began.   
  
"Then I will see if my key card is still operating." Tseng finished her sentence in such a knowing manner that it calmed her pounding heart. "Stay close to me." He said sharply as he drew his pistol, the pupils of his eyes narrowing down up the elevator doors ahead like poison darts. Vincent gave Aeris a sideways glance as she nodded sharply and noticed that her usual soft eyes were now full of determination as they approached the elevator. With a wary finger Tseng pressed the plastic-covered button and anxiously awaited its response. Much to his surprise the elevator was not sealed, but rather, in full operation.   
  
"Apparently someone neglected their duties..."Tseng muttered coldly as he listened for the approaching elevator.   
  
"Perhaps.."Red added quietly as a thoughtful frown grew upon his face. " They did not seal the elevator for a reason."   
  
"You're right." Vincent said in a sharp, urgent voice as he pulled Aeris back from the elevator door by the arm. "We are being setup!"   
  
Aeris nodded with an almost frightening realization as Red began to back away as well. Sephiroth stood perfectly poised in his battle stance as Tseng backed up to the wall with his gun drawn, ready to fire at anyone who sprang from the elevator. Vincent took cover behind a potted fern as Red positioned himself on the other side of the elevator, opposite of Tseng.   
  
Sephiroth tensed as the elevator dinged, and grasped his sword firmly within his hands as the elevator door slid open with a hiss. His eyes narrowed up his anticipated prey with a smug grin, until he realized that no one was in the elevator. With a slightly disappointed look, Sephiroth lowered his sword and returned to his regular demeanor. "No one is there." He muttered lowly as his eyes continued to burn through the elevator.   
  
"Do you think it is safe to use?" RedXIII asked as he warily glanced inside.   
  
"I do not know."Vincent said harshly. "But we are about to find out."   
  
  
  
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Sean leaned forward in his seat as he watched them approach the elevator on the monitor. He turned the swivel chair quickly to the next monitor and sighed with relief as he found Ace talking to the ex-Turks through their prison wall with her pistol drawn. Everything was going exactly according to plan.   
  
As Chase walked into the security room from the door behind him, Sean turned and gave her a small, tense grin."Did everything go okay?" He asked as he returned to the monitors.   
  
"Perfectly." Chase answered with a smug grin. " Every available soldier is looking for an intruder in the Number 2 Docking Bay."   
  
"Good." Sean said emotionlessly as he stared into the monitors.   
  
Chase slowly approached the chair, and placed her hand on his shoulder as she too began to watch the monitors. "How are the cameras?"   
  
"All of the surveillance cameras have been shutoff except for the ones in the prison row, the docking bay 2, and the cameras I'm watching Avalanche with. Everything else is shut down." Sean said as he glanced up Chase, over his shoulder, watching the erie blue glow off of the monitors reflected off of her face. Even the face of adversity, Sean still found himself lost in the beautiful contours of her delicate, soft face. If only he had the courage to reach up and stroke her cheek...No, that was too forward. Maybe if he..."   
  
Unknown to either of them, a dark shadow quietly leaned within the doorway. "Like father like son." The voiced echoed eerily within the control room as both of them felt a shiver up their spines.   
  
"Rufus?!" Sean quickly spun around in the swivel chair as Chase pivoted with a look of surprise upon her face.   
  
  
  
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Ace leaned against the eastward wall of the cell that jutted past the cell door on one shoulder with her arms crossed across her chest, and gun in hand tucked underneath her left-forearm. Her stance and expression were very relaxed, always trying to keep a watchful eye on both door ways that lead into the cell block. Yet, her blue eyes continued to drift into the solemn cell where the Turks sat quietly, awaiting their fate, like the professionals they were. She couldn't help but give them pity as she watched them bottle a fury of emotion into one, solitary facade of stone coldness or blank acceptance. Rude's strong profile was rigid and cold as he sat down upon the floor with his knees propped up against his chest, looking lost in thought as his chin rested upon his hands. Elena fidgeted nervously with her blonde hair as she twisted it around her index finger, and stared into space with a blank look of helplessness. Every once in a while, Ace would watch Elena's blue eyes slowly shift in Rude's direction, almost as if she expected him to disappear once she was not looking. Ace knew that look very well, though. It was a look of friendship. A look of true commitment and worry. The look she was now wearing as she began to think about Sean and Chase.   
  
That same elusive feeling began to invade her gut once more, making her feel slightly queasy as she quietly surveyed the area. The heavy, metal door on the right side of the cell block remained tightly shut as it prohibited any unwanted visitors to appear without her knowledge. The door on the left end of the corridor sat with it's heavy door fully open, giving Ace a full view of the darkened stairwell she had climbed only moments earlier.   
  
An exasperated yawn suddenly awoke Ace from her vigilance as she turned to face the Turks, seeking the source of the yawn. The yawn, she discovered, had come from the sloppily dressed man,Reno. A small smile crept across her face as Reno slowly rolled over on the cot with a playful smile etched across his face.   
  
"What?" He asked in playful sarcasm."You've never seen a guy yawn before, babe?"   
  
"No, it's not that..." Ace's voice trailed off, as a sly smile began to grow on her face as well. "I'm just surprised that you would consider a pile of trash like you, would consider yourself to be a man." Ace said as she refolded her arms in a smug victory.   
  
"Ouch." Reno chuckled as he rolled over once more. " Least I can get a date. I bet you fell outta the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down. Heh heh. With that ugly mug, I bet your Mom had to tie a steak around your neck so the dog would play with you. I mean, what happened, did your family tree go straight up or somethin'?"   
  
"Stop flirting with the--" Rude began, shooting him a dirty look until he was interrupted by Reno's whine.   
  
"But she's hot!" Reno whined as Elena elbowed him the gut sharply.   
  
"OW!" Reno yelped as he clutched his side. "What was that for?!"   
  
Elena grinned jokingly and Ace even thought she even saw Rude crack a rare smile until the sound of footsteps began to penetrate the open the door. Ace suddenly snapped to attention as her body suddenly stiffened. There were way too many footsteps for the owners of them to have been a rescue party. Ace quickly began to dig into the pockets of her navy blue Turks uniform for the keycard as both Elena and Rude sprung from their sitting positions and began to peer down the hallway. The footsteps were ringing alarms of warning as she finally retrieved her keycards and began to fumble with them, trying to find the correct one.   
  
"Come on, Babe. HURRY UP!" Reno pleaded urgently as he placed his hands upon the cast-iron door.   
  
"I'm going as fast as I ca--" The green light upon the door suddenly began to flash as the door slid open with a subtle hiss. Reno was the first to rush out, followed by Elena, and then Rude. As the four of them turned to make a break for the opposite door, they found soldiers pouring in from the door on the left-hand side. They broke to the right, but soon found themselves surrounded by armed guards with guns trained upon their temples.   
  
On the left side, Elena spotted a split beginning between the wall of guards that encircled them. Soon, Ace, Reno, and Rude began to spot it as well. The two familiar figures of Sean and Chase suddenly appeared as Ace wondered for a brief moment if she had been betrayed. By the broken expressions upon their solemn faces and the iron shackles dangling from the behind their backs, Ace knew that she had not been betrayed. Rufus stood behind Chase with a rather smug grin as he pushed his gun into her back, forcing her to continue walking until they met with the 5 before them.   
  
Five guards quickly rushed the surrounded Turks and slapped the cold iron shackles around their wrists.   
  
"Now, we'll take them to Hojo." Rufus smiled like a corrupt politician as he continued to force the group along.   
  
  
  
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	8. Default Chapter Title

59...60...61...66...67...68...   
  
  
"69..."Aeris said nervously as the elevator chimed, signifying it had reached it's destination. Sephiroth gave Aeris a sideways glance as he held his sword tightly. Tseng stood next to her, rigid as ever yet giving her the confidence she needed. Red sat just below the glowing button panel, his fiery tail smashed against the glass window as Vincent held the close door button tightly under the pressure of his gold claw.   
  
  
"Open the door, Vincent." Tseng said sharply as he aimed the iron barrel of his pistol directly at the crack between the metallic elevator doors As Vincent released the plastic button from underneath the pressure of his pointed claw, Sephiroth, Aeris, and Red took a step back to give the two gunfighters any room they needed to take care of any unwelcomed surprise greeters.   
  
  
The doors slid open with a gentle hiss as Vincent raised his death penalty as well, but much to their surprise, they found the lab mysteriously empty. The lab held the stench of chlorine and sterility, and the silent hum of the various computers and electronic containers that consumed the lab. Even the air had a hint of an icy nervousness and chilling apprehension.   
  
  
"I don't like this." Sephiroth muttered harshly as he stepped out of the elevator with his masamune held tight in his hands which rested slightly upon his right thigh.   
  
  
"Nor do I." Vincent said as he took an almost back to back position next to Sephiroth, standing to the right of him with his death penalty resting softly upon his caped shoulder.   
  
  
Red crouched in preparation to pounce. His eyes were full of a certain fierceness that Red only allowed to show during times of battle as he dug his lion claws into the floor. "Perhaps we've missed him..."   
  
  
"I doubt it."Tseng said as he took to Sephiroth's left.   
  
  
Aeris looked to Tseng as she tightened her sweaty palms around her metal bo staff. She could feel the bile rising in her throat as she tried to relax if not for her own sake, but for Tseng's. She felt as though she had to prove herself in front of him, to impress him, and to prove her strength and her undying love for him. It was something that she felt churning within her gut and burning within her soul. There was a passion to be proved. A fear to be embraced, and the inexplicable feeling of her proving her worth in a situation where she deemed herself weak. She had to impress him, not for his sake since she knew he loved her unconditionally, but for her own.   
  
  
The shimmer off of rather large containment unit caught RedXIII's eyes as he took a step forward, tiptoeing as if the floor itself were glass. The sound of soft, almost inaudible banging, was then heard by his sensitive ears. "There." He uttered seriously.   
  
  
Vincent nodded sharply as he turned to his left, and began to slowly approach the container. "So this is the devil's lair." Vincent said darkly. "And where the monsters of the earth have spawned. The elevator was merely the gate. The ground unto which we travel now, has earned the name of Hell. And where Hell is, the demon lurks."   
  
  
RedXIII came to a stop in front of the large glass containment unit and found himself staring into 6 eyes pleading in various measures. He recognized the bald man as Rude, and two others as Reno and Elena. There were, however three other humans inside the tank that he found unplaceable.The unknown man bared the resemblance of an ally that Avalanche had since acquired named Reeve. Shaking off a small feeling of familiarity, Red turned to find Tseng busily tapping with an urgent sense of haste on buttons of the large, metal keypad.   
  
  
A sealed door slowly began to open upon the unit.   
  
  
"Something isn't right." Vincent said sharply. "This venture has been eriely too uneventful. Monsters do not lurk in truth of the light..."   
  
  
"That is correct, Valentine." Hojo gave an amused smile as he appeared out of the shadows, and to which Vincent found, ironically, rather fitting. All six people had since left the containment unit, and were greatly relieved as they stood around their respective saviors and friends. Sean, unaware of his actions, squeezed Chase's hand as he drew two knives from his trench coat pocket. Ace unsheathed her sword as Chase unholstered her gun.   
  
  
"Stand down, Hojo." Tseng said lowly, almost in an angry growl that was so uncharacteristic of the solemn man that it surprised even Aeris. "You're outnumbered."   
  
  
"Remember, Hojo." Sean muttered evilly as the sound of a hammer clicked back into position echoed from both Chase's and Vincent's guns. "None of us would hesitate to kill you."   
  
  
"The monster does not lurk in the light..." Hojo sighed as the fluorescent lights overhead suddenly flickered out. "He lurks in the darkness."   
  
  
The only light that filtered through the now apocalyptic looking lab were the lonely glow of the vastly placed flood lights, and the vivacious glow from RedXIII's fiery tail. The glow reflected off of Rude's bald head as he stood next Red, awaiting the battle with clenched fists. Sephiroth's eyes gleamed brightly with mako energy as his eyes never left the spot in which Hojo once stood.   
  
  
The angry shout of a man soon became the growl of a monster.   
  
  
"He's changing! Step back!" Tseng shouted as he moved stealthily within the shadows of the towering equipment throughout the room, making his way toward Aeris.   
  
  
"Changing into what?!" Elena exclaimed as she and Rude backed up in unison, nearly stepping RedXIII as he crawled away on his stomach.   
  
  
"What I have always known him to be..." Vincent mutter encryptically, causing Aeris to give him a puzzled glance. "A monster of both body *and* soul."   
  
  
"But how?!" Aeris asked as she felt Tseng's hand upon her shoulder.   
  
  
"Self-experimentation." Rude said quietly.   
  
  
As the fluorescent lights slowly flickered back to life, an abomination was where a monster incarnate once stood. All around them were the sounds of tentacles and wings flapping quickly in the dead air as more of Hojo's hideous experiments began to surround the group.   
  
  
"Let's begin..." Hojo laughed feverishly as the monsters began their assault.   
  
  
"They're separating us!!!" Ace cried as she and Reno became lost within a group of monsters.   
  
  
"ACE!" Chase exclaimed as she sprinted toward her and Reno's location, hoping to spare them from the expectant slaughter. She soon met a wall of opposition as the experimentations began to surround her as Sean jerked her by the arm toward him.   
  
  
"I can handle myself, Sean!" She muttered as she jerked her arm out of his hand.   
  
  
"Excuse me for caring." Sean muttered under his breath as he turned to face the nearest monster, and saw Tseng quickly pull Aeris close to where he and Vincent were, as his vision was blocked by an oncoming experiment.   
  
  
Rude and Elena found themselves trapped in the southernmost corner of the lab, separated from both RedXIII and Sephiroth. Elena's scream for help was drown in the roar of the monsters as they began to attack. Hojo, if you would still consider him so, stepped back and began to ponder what he would do with eleven new test subjects if they were not completely marred in the process. Hojo only laughed at the thought, and regarded it only as challenge as he sat back to watch the carnage.   
  
  
  
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Sean released two throwing knives into one of the abomination's chest as if they were merely extensions of his own hand. It roared in pain as it stumbled backwards, unsuccessfully clawing at the knife in hopes of removing it. As stepped back, awaiting his next opponent, he spotted Chase, standing in a solid stance as she gripped her pistol tightly in her steady hands. He knew that Hojo's monsters had killed her tribe, her family, within the sleeping Forest as a child, and the look he saw within her eyes was one of raw emotion of anger and pain. The same look, he realized, that he always found himself giving when his eyes fell upon the wicked Professor Hojo. He experimented on his brother, Scott, and had killed his Mother with a mysterious illness. Hojo would not be allowed to experiment on anyone again, he swore to himself. Or he would die trying.   
  
  
Sean released a fan of three blades with his newfound inspiration and fury as he thought of his loss of his family. Another beast clutched his throat as the knife penetrated it's scaly skin with the cold, icy sentence of death. An eye for an eye. If these had once been human, perhaps this battle would have been different. "Ashes to ashes. Dust to Dust." He thought coldly as he tensed and flung another blade into the crowd. Hojo wouldn't get away with murder. No, he tried to kill his brother, and successfully killed his Mother. The thought of the others that must have gone through the same experimentation, filled him with even greater fury as he lashed out with still the calm, cold, heartless exterior he always seemed to portray. No one was going to be hurt again.   
  
  
Chase fired three shots into the hideous monster as it charged her, fangs barred and claws extended. It's eyes widen in the sudden realization of pain as it felt the entrance of three of death's servants enter it's hairy chest. A hideous howl emerged from it's throat as it shook off the wound, and continued to charge, grasping and clawing like a rabid animal, until finally it collapsed near her feet. She let out a sigh of relief as she turned her blonde head toward Sean, praying for his safety.   
  
  
She felt as if the burden of her soul was extended through each bullet as they slammed into solid flesh, ripping away the anger she had felt for so long. She saw the death of her family flash before her very eyes amidst the red haze that seemed to consume her. No, it wouldn't happen again. It couldn't. She couldn't live if it were to happen again, to someone else. She kicked her left foot out hard as it connected with another abomination's gut, causing it double in pain, as Chase received the satisfactory sensation of fleshing giving way under pressure. Monsters such as these had ravaged her family, clawing out their very hearts and souls and suffocating the innocence the small children in her tribe as they fled in fear, watching their parents being torn to blood-ravaged ribbons. These monsters would harm no one else.   
  
  
  
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RedXIII pounced with all his might as he landed upon one of the monsters that was about to consume Elena. He never quite thought he would find himself allied with the Turks, let alone saving their lives. Thoughts of his own incarceration for Hojo's scientific whims began to flood his mind as he tried to get a fix on his location for strategic reasons. What had Hojo done to create these monsters? What kind of evil had he conjured with the logistics of science? These were abominations--soulless beings created by a man with the ambitions of a god. No man deserved or could behold the awesome responsibility of creating something without a conception of morality to guide it course. What else could these creatures live for or comprehend if they were thriving off of the soul, or lack there of, of the man named Hojo.   
  
  
There is a definition of living stated simply by giving life, is giving the ability to reason between right and wrong, and a purpose. These were machines of morbidity, Red reasoned, created with one purpose in mind, and he would die upon the floors of this lab if that purpose was ever full-filled.   
  
  
He glanced to his left at Elena, who surprisingly was doing well holding out on her own. Red dove agilely and flipped as he pummeled another beast, barely avoiding the monster Rude had fisted down.   
  
  
Rude glance back over at Elena, making sure she was safe with her being the newest of the Turks. Rude clenched his fists as upper-cutted a nearby monster, sending him tumbling backward into another one. The three had done quite well, but the look in Elena's eyes despite the determined expression she held mirrored the sickening feeling Rude felt within himself. What was this? Was this what they had been protecting for so long?!   
  
  
Rude slammed his leather-clad fist into abdomen of another creature, and backed away as RedXIII pounced from the side, knocking down the already injured monster. Rude nodded a silent nod of thanks as RedXIII turned to face his next opponent and Rude, his own.   
  
  
Elena constantly reassured herself by repeating "its just another job" over and over in her head, until she began to feel a false sense of security. Who was she kidding?! Not only was she fearful for her own life, but Tseng's as well. As she watched the smoke roll off the end of the iron barrel of her gun, she thought she saw Tseng through the densely crowded room being slammed against a metallic wall after being clawed by one of the beasts. Elena cringed as he swallowed the bile rising in her throat. No, she had to focus on the situation at hand, but Tseng, he--   
  
  
She winced at the sound of the antagonizing cry of monster as she pivoted, surprised by it's closeness. She gasped in horror to find the monster's head merely a few inches from her feet, as Sephiroth removed his blood-dripping masamune from it's lifeless back. His black cape filled with air as he stared at her for a brief moment with his cold, green mako eyes that warned her to be cautious of her back. He turned with a quick, militant stature, and proceed to cut a diagonal slice down the right shoulder of another beast, with seemingly no remorse. She returned to the battle with almost a haunted sense as though a ghost had warned her of a fatal flaw that had caused it's own demise, and a cold chill ran down her spine as she fired another shot into the crowd of monsters.   
  
  
  
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His silver hair glittered in the pale, fluorescent light of the lab as he swung his masamune as if it were an extension of his own arm, sending a sprinkling of crimson flailing in a fanlike fashion. He had always lived for the excitement and the exhilaration of battle that seemed to flare like a roaring fire through his veins. It was if he were releasing a caged spirit through the focal point of his icy blade, feeling it soar over the hurdles of his pains and so-called-mother. Since his days with SOLDIER, it had always been that way...it was a way of life, or rather, a way of death, the avoidance of the soul he never wished to portray.   
  
  
But now, it was different. A rebirth surged within him like he had never felt before. A sense knowledge, and an even greater sense of purpose filled his mind, and for once in his lonesome life, his heart.   
  
  
The sword had never felt better in his strong hands as he struck another monster down, and the relief of aggression and the pent-up anger of the manipulation he had been through which had been orchestrated by the evil doctor, himself. He would reach his Father, he thought with a smug grin, even if meant he had to hack through each of these monstrosities separately. For it was time for the Father and Son to chat.   
  
  
  
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Pounding. Pure and simple pounding wielding itself into a dull roar. Blood splashing, screams of agony, and for one man, the blade of death searing through his own soul. For being back in the lab reminded him of those tale tale days and of her. Her voice resounding in his over and over again in his mind as a reminder and inspiration for what he must do.   
  
  
Her presence an inspiration. His memories itched in stone. Her epitaph will be an everlasting reminder to his evils. And her son will be the living embodiment of everything corrupted by the Shin-Ra that needeth turn right. Luckily, for both Sephiroth and Vincent's sakes, that wrong had been made right.   
  
  
He had a passion burning, not a blood lust, as his claw ripped across monster flesh. There was a man. No, a monster standing on the other side of this wall of abominations. And he was going to climb the wall, break the barrier like he wished he could break barrier of death between she and him, and if it that barrier happened to be the devil himself, so be it.   
  
  
Vincent glanced over his shoulder as he heard another gun shot go off. Smoke rolled off the end of Tseng's iron barreled pistol as he pulled it back toward his chest, awaiting his next attacker. Aeris thwacked another monster into the wall as Tseng shot another. They both exchanged looks before Aeris turned to find a monster towering over her. She gasped as her muscles tensed and became heavy. She froze as she looked into the monsters glowing yellow eyes, and as it was bringing it's claw down upon her, she watched the monster convulse back, gripping it's shoulder in agony. Aeris found Tseng standing there with his gun still trained on the spot where the monster had been, his eyes as narrow as pin darts and filled with an angry protectiveness. Aeris wanted to run up and hold him, but she knew better than to do such in a battle. She smiled, hoping her gesture would be enough to deliver her sincerity until a later time.   
  
  
Watching the previous events, Vincent failed to notice a monster coming upon him. When he finally heard the monster approach, it was too late. It's massive claw raked against Vincent's face and sent him tumbling backwards. As Aeris screamed, Tseng turned to find Vincent propped upon the bottom of the wall where he held his bloody face between his knees. A paled look came upon Tseng's face until Vincent angrily glared at the monster, wiping the blood off of his face and flinging it to the floor. Vincent stood, and before their eyes, became his fourth limit break, Chaos, as wings sprung out of his back and claws emerged from his hands. He sprung, wings and claws extended toward the monster that had attacked, tackling him into the monster behind, sending the two monsters crashing to the ground and opening a passageway between two of the groups.   
  
  
Sean and Chase quickly sprinted through the hole with their guns drawn. Ace and Reno were not far behind. Vincent, having morphed down, turned to see a black cape fluttering in the air and the glimmer of a sword as he heard another monster scream in agony. Sephiroth stepped over the injured monster, followed by RedXIII, Rude, and Elena.   
  
  
The remaining monsters regrouped, surrounding them, forcing them to go back to back.   
  
  
"We're surrounded."Vincent muttered as he took a step back, redrawing his death penalty from his side.   
  
  
"Naw....ya think?" Reno looked at him with an aire of sarcasm.   
  
  
"Reno...."Tseng sighed as he tightened his grip on his pistol.   
  
  
Reno turned to look at Tseng. "Yeah,Boss?"   
  
  
"Do us all a favor,"Tseng paused as he aimed," and shut-up."   
  
  
Vincent glanced at Tseng out of the corner of his eye, and almost smiled as the monsters approached. He saw Sephiroth straighten his posture and shake a lock of silver hair out of his face. A small bead of sweat trickled down Rude's bald forehead as both he and Elena pointed their pistols toward one row of monsters. Sean was taking advantage of the situation by reloading his gun on one knee while Chase was covering him with a weakened form of what was once a wild gleam in her eye. Ace eyed the monsters carefully as she surveyed their predicament, and Red slouched back, his ears laid flat, as he prepared to pounce. Eight monsters were left.   
  
  
With one grasping motion of a monster's claw towards Elena's throat the battle began once again. Tseng roundhouse kicked the monster the jaw as Elena ducked underneath it's grasp. Sean shot it, leaving it down for the count. RedXIII pounced on another, clawing it until Chase ended it's misery. Rude slammed his fist into another abomination's gut, while Reno hit it over the head with his prod, making it convulse with electricity until it was knocked out. Sephiroth downed another with his masuname, leaving four left.   
  
  
Vincent fired into a monster, and then briefly wondered what they would have done if these monsters had at one time been human. There wasn't a way they could have defeated the group if that had been the case. Vincent quickly pushed the thought out of his mind as he continued to focus on the battle. Three left.   
  
  
Ace sliced another monster in the shoulder as Elena shot it in the gut, making it collapse by their feet.   
  
  
Two Left.   
  
  
Aeris swept one with her bo staff, knocking it off it's feet, and RedXIII clawed it the rest of the way.   
  
  
One left.   
  
  
Sean Reeve grew with a strange green glow as he nodded to Chase. She nodded in response, and the two turned to face the monster. Sean's eyes developed a deep icy glare as he looked into the monster's eyes, paralyzing it where it stood with his limit break. Chase stood beside him and blew the monster a kiss, which evolved into a pink energy blast that hit the monster squarely in the chest, knocking the last monster back into the mental lab walls. The sound of the monster being slammed against the wall echoed throughout the deadly silent lab.   
  
  
8 monsters...7...6... 5... 4...3...2...1...   
  
  
"Hojo...."   
  



	9. Default Chapter Title

59...60...61...66...67...68...   
  
  
"69..."Aeris said nervously as the elevator chimed, signifying it had reached it's destination. Sephiroth gave Aeris a sideways glance as he held his sword tightly. Tseng stood next to her, rigid as ever yet giving her the confidence she needed. Red sat just below the glowing button panel, his fiery tail smashed against the glass window as Vincent held the close door button tightly under the pressure of his gold claw.   
  
  
"Open the door, Vincent." Tseng said sharply as he aimed the iron barrel of his pistol directly at the crack between the metallic elevator doors As Vincent released the plastic button from underneath the pressure of his pointed claw, Sephiroth, Aeris, and Red took a step back to give the two gunfighters any room they needed to take care of any unwelcomed surprise greeters.   
  
  
The doors slid open with a gentle hiss as Vincent raised his death penalty as well, but much to their surprise, they found the lab mysteriously empty. The lab held the stench of chlorine and sterility, and the silent hum of the various computers and electronic containers that consumed the lab. Even the air had a hint of an icy nervousness and chilling apprehension.   
  
  
"I don't like this." Sephiroth muttered harshly as he stepped out of the elevator with his masamune held tight in his hands which rested slightly upon his right thigh.   
  
  
"Nor do I." Vincent said as he took an almost back to back position next to Sephiroth, standing to the right of him with his death penalty resting softly upon his caped shoulder.   
  
  
Red crouched in preparation to pounce. His eyes were full of a certain fierceness that Red only allowed to show during times of battle as he dug his lion claws into the floor. "Perhaps we've missed him..."   
  
  
"I doubt it."Tseng said as he took to Sephiroth's left.   
  
  
Aeris looked to Tseng as she tightened her sweaty palms around her metal bo staff. She could feel the bile rising in her throat as she tried to relax if not for her own sake, but for Tseng's. She felt as though she had to prove herself in front of him, to impress him, and to prove her strength and her undying love for him. It was something that she felt churning within her gut and burning within her soul. There was a passion to be proved. A fear to be embraced, and the inexplicable feeling of her proving her worth in a situation where she deemed herself weak. She had to impress him, not for his sake since she knew he loved her unconditionally, but for her own.   
  
  
The shimmer off of rather large containment unit caught RedXIII's eyes as he took a step forward, tiptoeing as if the floor itself were glass. The sound of soft, almost inaudible banging, was then heard by his sensitive ears. "There." He uttered seriously.   
  
  
Vincent nodded sharply as he turned to his left, and began to slowly approach the container. "So this is the devil's lair." Vincent said darkly. "And where the monsters of the earth have spawned. The elevator was merely the gate. The ground unto which we travel now, has earned the name of Hell. And where Hell is, the demon lurks."   
  
  
RedXIII came to a stop in front of the large glass containment unit and found himself staring into 6 eyes pleading in various measures. He recognized the bald man as Rude, and two others as Reno and Elena. There were, however three other humans inside the tank that he found unplaceable.The unknown man bared the resemblance of an ally that Avalanche had since acquired named Reeve. Shaking off a small feeling of familiarity, Red turned to find Tseng busily tapping with an urgent sense of haste on buttons of the large, metal keypad.   
  
  
A sealed door slowly began to open upon the unit.   
  
  
"Something isn't right." Vincent said sharply. "This venture has been eriely too uneventful. Monsters do not lurk in truth of the light..."   
  
  
"That is correct, Valentine." Hojo gave an amused smile as he appeared out of the shadows, and to which Vincent found, ironically, rather fitting. All six people had since left the containment unit, and were greatly relieved as they stood around their respective saviors and friends. Sean, unaware of his actions, squeezed Chase's hand as he drew two knives from his trench coat pocket. Ace unsheathed her sword as Chase unholstered her gun.   
  
  
"Stand down, Hojo." Tseng said lowly, almost in an angry growl that was so uncharacteristic of the solemn man that it surprised even Aeris. "You're outnumbered."   
  
  
"Remember, Hojo." Sean muttered evilly as the sound of a hammer clicked back into position echoed from both Chase's and Vincent's guns. "None of us would hesitate to kill you."   
  
  
"The monster does not lurk in the light..." Hojo sighed as the fluorescent lights overhead suddenly flickered out. "He lurks in the darkness."   
  
  
The only light that filtered through the now apocalyptic looking lab were the lonely glow of the vastly placed flood lights, and the vivacious glow from RedXIII's fiery tail. The glow reflected off of Rude's bald head as he stood next Red, awaiting the battle with clenched fists. Sephiroth's eyes gleamed brightly with mako energy as his eyes never left the spot in which Hojo once stood.   
  
  
The angry shout of a man soon became the growl of a monster.   
  
  
"He's changing! Step back!" Tseng shouted as he moved stealthily within the shadows of the towering equipment throughout the room, making his way toward Aeris.   
  
  
"Changing into what?!" Elena exclaimed as she and Rude backed up in unison, nearly stepping RedXIII as he crawled away on his stomach.   
  
  
"What I have always known him to be..." Vincent mutter encryptically, causing Aeris to give him a puzzled glance. "A monster of both body *and* soul."   
  
  
"But how?!" Aeris asked as she felt Tseng's hand upon her shoulder.   
  
  
"Self-experimentation." Rude said quietly.   
  
  
As the fluorescent lights slowly flickered back to life, an abomination was where a monster incarnate once stood. All around them were the sounds of tentacles and wings flapping quickly in the dead air as more of Hojo's hideous experiments began to surround the group.   
  
  
"Let's begin..." Hojo laughed feverishly as the monsters began their assault.   
  
  
"They're separating us!!!" Ace cried as she and Reno became lost within a group of monsters.   
  
  
"ACE!" Chase exclaimed as she sprinted toward her and Reno's location, hoping to spare them from the expectant slaughter. She soon met a wall of opposition as the experimentations began to surround her as Sean jerked her by the arm toward him.   
  
  
"I can handle myself, Sean!" She muttered as she jerked her arm out of his hand.   
  
  
"Excuse me for caring." Sean muttered under his breath as he turned to face the nearest monster, and saw Tseng quickly pull Aeris close to where he and Vincent were, as his vision was blocked by an oncoming experiment.   
  
  
Rude and Elena found themselves trapped in the southernmost corner of the lab, separated from both RedXIII and Sephiroth. Elena's scream for help was drown in the roar of the monsters as they began to attack. Hojo, if you would still consider him so, stepped back and began to ponder what he would do with eleven new test subjects if they were not completely marred in the process. Hojo only laughed at the thought, and regarded it only as challenge as he sat back to watch the carnage.   
  
  
  
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Sean released two throwing knives into one of the abomination's chest as if they were merely extensions of his own hand. It roared in pain as it stumbled backwards, unsuccessfully clawing at the knife in hopes of removing it. As stepped back, awaiting his next opponent, he spotted Chase, standing in a solid stance as she gripped her pistol tightly in her steady hands. He knew that Hojo's monsters had killed her tribe, her family, within the sleeping Forest as a child, and the look he saw within her eyes was one of raw emotion of anger and pain. The same look, he realized, that he always found himself giving when his eyes fell upon the wicked Professor Hojo. He experimented on his brother, Scott, and had killed his Mother with a mysterious illness. Hojo would not be allowed to experiment on anyone again, he swore to himself. Or he would die trying.   
  
  
Sean released a fan of three blades with his newfound inspiration and fury as he thought of his loss of his family. Another beast clutched his throat as the knife penetrated it's scaly skin with the cold, icy sentence of death. An eye for an eye. If these had once been human, perhaps this battle would have been different. "Ashes to ashes. Dust to Dust." He thought coldly as he tensed and flung another blade into the crowd. Hojo wouldn't get away with murder. No, he tried to kill his brother, and successfully killed his Mother. The thought of the others that must have gone through the same experimentation, filled him with even greater fury as he lashed out with still the calm, cold, heartless exterior he always seemed to portray. No one was going to be hurt again.   
  
  
Chase fired three shots into the hideous monster as it charged her, fangs barred and claws extended. It's eyes widen in the sudden realization of pain as it felt the entrance of three of death's servants enter it's hairy chest. A hideous howl emerged from it's throat as it shook off the wound, and continued to charge, grasping and clawing like a rabid animal, until finally it collapsed near her feet. She let out a sigh of relief as she turned her blonde head toward Sean, praying for his safety.   
  
  
She felt as if the burden of her soul was extended through each bullet as they slammed into solid flesh, ripping away the anger she had felt for so long. She saw the death of her family flash before her very eyes amidst the red haze that seemed to consume her. No, it wouldn't happen again. It couldn't. She couldn't live if it were to happen again, to someone else. She kicked her left foot out hard as it connected with another abomination's gut, causing it double in pain, as Chase received the satisfactory sensation of fleshing giving way under pressure. Monsters such as these had ravaged her family, clawing out their very hearts and souls and suffocating the innocence the small children in her tribe as they fled in fear, watching their parents being torn to blood-ravaged ribbons. These monsters would harm no one else.   
  
  
  
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RedXIII pounced with all his might as he landed upon one of the monsters that was about to consume Elena. He never quite thought he would find himself allied with the Turks, let alone saving their lives. Thoughts of his own incarceration for Hojo's scientific whims began to flood his mind as he tried to get a fix on his location for strategic reasons. What had Hojo done to create these monsters? What kind of evil had he conjured with the logistics of science? These were abominations--soulless beings created by a man with the ambitions of a god. No man deserved or could behold the awesome responsibility of creating something without a conception of morality to guide it course. What else could these creatures live for or comprehend if they were thriving off of the soul, or lack there of, of the man named Hojo.   
  
  
There is a definition of living stated simply by giving life, is giving the ability to reason between right and wrong, and a purpose. These were machines of morbidity, Red reasoned, created with one purpose in mind, and he would die upon the floors of this lab if that purpose was ever full-filled.   
  
  
He glanced to his left at Elena, who surprisingly was doing well holding out on her own. Red dove agilely and flipped as he pummeled another beast, barely avoiding the monster Rude had fisted down.   
  
  
Rude glance back over at Elena, making sure she was safe with her being the newest of the Turks. Rude clenched his fists as upper-cutted a nearby monster, sending him tumbling backward into another one. The three had done quite well, but the look in Elena's eyes despite the determined expression she held mirrored the sickening feeling Rude felt within himself. What was this? Was this what they had been protecting for so long?!   
  
  
Rude slammed his leather-clad fist into abdomen of another creature, and backed away as RedXIII pounced from the side, knocking down the already injured monster. Rude nodded a silent nod of thanks as RedXIII turned to face his next opponent and Rude, his own.   
  
  
Elena constantly reassured herself by repeating "its just another job" over and over in her head, until she began to feel a false sense of security. Who was she kidding?! Not only was she fearful for her own life, but Tseng's as well. As she watched the smoke roll off the end of the iron barrel of her gun, she thought she saw Tseng through the densely crowded room being slammed against a metallic wall after being clawed by one of the beasts. Elena cringed as he swallowed the bile rising in her throat. No, she had to focus on the situation at hand, but Tseng, he--   
  
  
She winced at the sound of the antagonizing cry of monster as she pivoted, surprised by it's closeness. She gasped in horror to find the monster's head merely a few inches from her feet, as Sephiroth removed his blood-dripping masamune from it's lifeless back. His black cape filled with air as he stared at her for a brief moment with his cold, green mako eyes that warned her to be cautious of her back. He turned with a quick, militant stature, and proceed to cut a diagonal slice down the right shoulder of another beast, with seemingly no remorse. She returned to the battle with almost a haunted sense as though a ghost had warned her of a fatal flaw that had caused it's own demise, and a cold chill ran down her spine as she fired another shot into the crowd of monsters.   
  
  
  
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His silver hair glittered in the pale, fluorescent light of the lab as he swung his masamune as if it were an extension of his own arm, sending a sprinkling of crimson flailing in a fanlike fashion. He had always lived for the excitement and the exhilaration of battle that seemed to flare like a roaring fire through his veins. It was if he were releasing a caged spirit through the focal point of his icy blade, feeling it soar over the hurdles of his pains and so-called-mother. Since his days with SOLDIER, it had always been that way...it was a way of life, or rather, a way of death, the avoidance of the soul he never wished to portray.   
  
  
But now, it was different. A rebirth surged within him like he had never felt before. A sense knowledge, and an even greater sense of purpose filled his mind, and for once in his lonesome life, his heart.   
  
  
The sword had never felt better in his strong hands as he struck another monster down, and the relief of aggression and the pent-up anger of the manipulation he had been through which had been orchestrated by the evil doctor, himself. He would reach his Father, he thought with a smug grin, even if meant he had to hack through each of these monstrosities separately. For it was time for the Father and Son to chat.   
  
  
  
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Pounding. Pure and simple pounding wielding itself into a dull roar. Blood splashing, screams of agony, and for one man, the blade of death searing through his own soul. For being back in the lab reminded him of those tale tale days and of her. Her voice resounding in his over and over again in his mind as a reminder and inspiration for what he must do.   
  
  
Her presence an inspiration. His memories itched in stone. Her epitaph will be an everlasting reminder to his evils. And her son will be the living embodiment of everything corrupted by the Shin-Ra that needeth turn right. Luckily, for both Sephiroth and Vincent's sakes, that wrong had been made right.   
  
  
He had a passion burning, not a blood lust, as his claw ripped across monster flesh. There was a man. No, a monster standing on the other side of this wall of abominations. And he was going to climb the wall, break the barrier like he wished he could break barrier of death between she and him, and if it that barrier happened to be the devil himself, so be it.   
  
  
Vincent glanced over his shoulder as he heard another gun shot go off. Smoke rolled off the end of Tseng's iron barreled pistol as he pulled it back toward his chest, awaiting his next attacker. Aeris thwacked another monster into the wall as Tseng shot another. They both exchanged looks before Aeris turned to find a monster towering over her. She gasped as her muscles tensed and became heavy. She froze as she looked into the monsters glowing yellow eyes, and as it was bringing it's claw down upon her, she watched the monster convulse back, gripping it's shoulder in agony. Aeris found Tseng standing there with his gun still trained on the spot where the monster had been, his eyes as narrow as pin darts and filled with an angry protectiveness. Aeris wanted to run up and hold him, but she knew better than to do such in a battle. She smiled, hoping her gesture would be enough to deliver her sincerity until a later time.   
  
  
Watching the previous events, Vincent failed to notice a monster coming upon him. When he finally heard the monster approach, it was too late. It's massive claw raked against Vincent's face and sent him tumbling backwards. As Aeris screamed, Tseng turned to find Vincent propped upon the bottom of the wall where he held his bloody face between his knees. A paled look came upon Tseng's face until Vincent angrily glared at the monster, wiping the blood off of his face and flinging it to the floor. Vincent stood, and before their eyes, became his fourth limit break, Chaos, as wings sprung out of his back and claws emerged from his hands. He sprung, wings and claws extended toward the monster that had attacked, tackling him into the monster behind, sending the two monsters crashing to the ground and opening a passageway between two of the groups.   
  
  
Sean and Chase quickly sprinted through the hole with their guns drawn. Ace and Reno were not far behind. Vincent, having morphed down, turned to see a black cape fluttering in the air and the glimmer of a sword as he heard another monster scream in agony. Sephiroth stepped over the injured monster, followed by RedXIII, Rude, and Elena.   
  
  
The remaining monsters regrouped, surrounding them, forcing them to go back to back.   
  
  
"We're surrounded."Vincent muttered as he took a step back, redrawing his death penalty from his side.   
  
  
"Naw....ya think?" Reno looked at him with an aire of sarcasm.   
  
  
"Reno...."Tseng sighed as he tightened his grip on his pistol.   
  
  
Reno turned to look at Tseng. "Yeah,Boss?"   
  
  
"Do us all a favor,"Tseng paused as he aimed," and shut-up."   
  
  
Vincent glanced at Tseng out of the corner of his eye, and almost smiled as the monsters approached. He saw Sephiroth straighten his posture and shake a lock of silver hair out of his face. A small bead of sweat trickled down Rude's bald forehead as both he and Elena pointed their pistols toward one row of monsters. Sean was taking advantage of the situation by reloading his gun on one knee while Chase was covering him with a weakened form of what was once a wild gleam in her eye. Ace eyed the monsters carefully as she surveyed their predicament, and Red slouched back, his ears laid flat, as he prepared to pounce. Eight monsters were left.   
  
  
With one grasping motion of a monster's claw towards Elena's throat the battle began once again. Tseng roundhouse kicked the monster the jaw as Elena ducked underneath it's grasp. Sean shot it, leaving it down for the count. RedXIII pounced on another, clawing it until Chase ended it's misery. Rude slammed his fist into another abomination's gut, while Reno hit it over the head with his prod, making it convulse with electricity until it was knocked out. Sephiroth downed another with his masuname, leaving four left.   
  
  
Vincent fired into a monster, and then briefly wondered what they would have done if these monsters had at one time been human. There wasn't a way they could have defeated the group if that had been the case. Vincent quickly pushed the thought out of his mind as he continued to focus on the battle. Three left.   
  
  
Ace sliced another monster in the shoulder as Elena shot it in the gut, making it collapse by their feet.   
  
  
Two Left.   
  
  
Aeris swept one with her bo staff, knocking it off it's feet, and RedXIII clawed it the rest of the way.   
  
  
One left.   
  
  
Sean Reeve grew with a strange green glow as he nodded to Chase. She nodded in response, and the two turned to face the monster. Sean's eyes developed a deep icy glare as he looked into the monster's eyes, paralyzing it where it stood with his limit break. Chase stood beside him and blew the monster a kiss, which evolved into a pink energy blast that hit the monster squarely in the chest, knocking the last monster back into the mental lab walls. The sound of the monster being slammed against the wall echoed throughout the deadly silent lab.   
  
  
8 monsters...7...6... 5... 4...3...2...1...   
  
  
"Hojo...."   
  



	10. Default Chapter Title

Shattered glass. Everywhere. The world is shattered glass. Cracking from it's highest point to its lowest. Raining down shards of lacerating debris of any heart caught beneath it, mauling and maiming it past the point of no return. Wounds heal, but scars are left as reminders of past tragedies. Tragedies of pain, loss, suffering, and guilt. He had seen her. A scar from his past, but a wound that didn't quite heal....   
  
  
He *had* seen Lucrecia.   
  
  
Her shade had passed upon him like cold, winter's eve. It was midnight. Her visit had long since past.   
  
  
The past. A metaphorical word for pain and reminders of sins trespassed long ago. Aching reminders of things that were, and the haunting whispering of blissful might-have-been's.   
  
  
His sleep interrupted by bone chilling nightmares of things untold and unfinished, leaving him with the emptiness of grave without it's occupant. He felt as though he were eaten alive by haunted soul's need to haunt the heart to it's last frayed nerve. He lied awake on the uncomfortable mattress, staring blankly at the blase ceiling into the darkness. He saw his life pass before his eyes. Lucrecia. Tseng. Avalanche. Hojo.   
  
  
He shuddered.   
  
  
The starlit sky penetrated the open window, letting a cold breeze circulate through the almost barren room. Pale, ghastly moonlight shone down upon his room as a single tear slipped down his pale cheeks. It was over. The nightmare was finally over. Physically.   
  
  
On a metaphysical plane he doubted that his soul-torn journey could ever be completed. It was a never ending spiral path of deadends, heartaches, and gutwrenching mistakes that always seemed to plague the weary and ripped his sore, wounded heart into a ravaged piece of unidentifiable meat like a dog in a blood lust.   
  
  
He was suddenly awoken from his thoughts. An abrupt gust of wind shook the curtains violently as they shivered in the cold night's wind. He shuddered as a cold chill ran down his spine, reopening his eyes to what felt abnormal. He sat up in bed slowly, cautiously gazing around the room and peering into each and every dark shadow. His glance finally fell on the mirror that sat at the foot of his bed and he stared at for moments on end, somehow fixated beyond what he considered his own hideous reflection. His mind was in a fog as another being took presence within the mirror with a ghastly, pale, green light that filtered not into the mirror, but out.   
  
  
Tiny waves were caused by a slender protruding hand rippling the mirror as the glow became very much more vibrant. Lucrecia, draped in sparkling robes, emerged from it's liquefied state. He sat there in a frozen state, lost in her eloquence and beauty as she seemed to float across the darkened room, lighting a path to her resting place at the corner of Vincent's bed. His angel. His daringly angel had come at last to take him home.   
  
  
She quietly sat on the edge of the old, rugged mattress and stared into his red eyes with a serene sea of forgiveness washing over him with a passionate graze. Her eyes were full of compassion and wonder as she leaned across the bed, placing her hand upon his pale cheek and catching a small tear as it trickled down his tightened face. He sat there speechless, his mind not fully registering the events that were unfolding before him until she leaned across the bed further and kissed him lightly on the lips.   
  
  
"Lucrecia...?" He whispered hoarsely as his heart began to race.   
  
  
"Shh...Vincent." She said softly as she looked lovingly into his eyes and lifted his chin up with her gentle hands. He felt his body become lighter and felt as if he would be lifted into the sky until they reached her eye level. He found himself locked in a passionate gaze as he fought the violent sea of tears flooding hid eyelids.   
  
  
"But--" Vincent began before he was cut off by her soft, flowing voice.   
  
  
"Vincent, my love...my Valentine...I've missed you so..." She whispered wrapping her arms around him in a loose hug, speaking in a tearful tone.   
  
  
Vincent fought back the explosion of tears that happened upon his eyes, as he grasped her tightly, vowing to never let her go again. "You do not know the pain I have grieved over your loss..."He whispered quietly as he rested his forehead atop her chest.   
  
  
"Vincent, I have watched over you from the very moment I reached the gates the heaven. I...felt your loss...your torment...But you must...," She paused as a single tear trickled down her own face, "let me go...."   
  
  
The tear streaked down her angelic face and fell upon Vincent like burning, cleansing holy water." You've been gone for almost 30 years..."He said in a partial state of shock. His head was swimming and his heart was racing.   
  
  
"No, Vincent." She smiled softly as she pushed him away at arms length to look him in the eye to assure herself of his understanding. "You must let me go. You must forget about me and stop..."She paused, 'living your life in the past." She finished quickly, not allowing the tremble of her own fear to sway both of them into fury of misplaced passionate tears.   
  
  
Vincent's eyes widened as he began to feel a queasiness sputtering in his stomach as his sea of tranquility transformed into a choppy sea of wavering limbo. "F-Forget?" He stuttered "I cannot forget...You,"He paused, recollecting himself," meant everything to me." He grinded his teeth in effort to control himself." I cannot possibly forget something that I invested so much of my soul within." Vincent's voice trailed off as an overwhelming sense of loss filled his gut.   
  
  
Was this real or was this fate's cruel tauntings that seemed to haunt him everynight as he drifted off to sleep? Forget her? Was this where the dream ends and the nightmare begins? What was there left to live for other than her memory?   
  
  
Lucrecia softly wiped the tear away with her finger as he looked him lovingly in the eye, fighting tears of her own. "Then do not forget." She paused. "Live."   
  
  
A heavy silence fell across the room as Vincent hung his head, unable to find the words that described the burden upon his soul. "I can't live without you." He managed to whisper softly as she placed her cool palm upon his flushed cheek once more. " It is a searing dagger upon my heart to even think of what happened that night. It tears my soul in two."   
  
  
"Then do it for me, Vincent." She whispered. " You have so much left of your life..." She paused, seemingly to recollect herself as well."Use what time you have."   
  
  
"But--" He began.   
  
  
"Promise me, Vincent." She said sternly as she looked back toward the mirror. She acted as if someone had called her by name and Vincent had the distinct feeling someone was calling her back. "Vincent, promise me you'll live your life...live it for yourself...your brother...or..."Her voice trailed off into a soft whisper. " For me." She paused. "I will always watch over you."   
  
  
As she pressed her lips to his in a final farewell, she was abruptly pulled away into the shadows. As she dissipated into the air and disappeared within the mirror once more, her voice echoed throughout the room. "My death..."Her voice trailed off. "It was not your...fault."   
  
  
"LUCRECIA! WAIT--!"   
  
  
She was gone.   
  
  
"I..." He cried softly. "Love...you."   
  
  
His whispers softly faded into the night as he leaned back once again, staring at the cold, darkened ceiling. His mind numb and his body tense as two more tears slipped down his reddened face.   
  
****   
  
  
In the next room, Tseng tossed and turned from a dream that was tormenting his own peace of being. The covers flared a few feet into the air as he violently tossed from one side to the other in a wave of unintentional frenzy. He finally froze was if two hands held him tightly. His heartbeat slowed as his perception of the dream began to unfold before him like an open book. His vision focused as he found himself standing in the surreal world of a dream limbo. A feeling of sheer perplexity overwhelmed him as he warily glanced from side to side in his opaque surroundings and then to the rear. Where was he? What madness was this? Was this death?!   
  
  
A small sphere opened up in the inky darkness. He squinted warily as the object became closer and began to take definite shape. It's light was becoming blinding as it inched ever closer. He tensed in anticipation. Suddenly, the object exploded, filling the entire expanse with a pure, exhilarating light, that blinded his eyes with such intensity that he shielded his face, fearing blindness and unadulterated radiation.   
  
  
"Tseng." A voiced echoed a thousand fold over.   
  
  
"WHO ARE YOU?!" He demanded.   
  
  
He reached for his pistol, but much to his dismay, he found it not resting in his side holster. He turned again, his fists balled tightly as his legs bounded up and down in a fighting position as he peered into the glow, infuriated by the intrusional ambush.   
  
  
"You know who I am." An eerily calm familiar feminine voice answered from within the brightness that made his blood run cold. He abruptly tensed more almost in a shudder.   
  
  
"No...it can't be..."Tseng muttered as his knuckles whitened to a ghastly tone. His fingernails dug deeply into his palms as he fists continued to tighten. "You're dead." He growled so concretely and so confidently that each word hung frigidly in the air like death in a vampire's confines. His eyes narrowed to the size of poison darts, ready to stain anything within it's range of with the venom of death.   
  
  
"Tseng, please. We must not argue for my time is short." She said curtly as she approached him with a determined pace. She showed no fear to probably one of the mostly deadly men alive."I wanted to thank you."   
  
  
"For what?!" He sighed defeatedly, but yet with a bit of defiance that he used as a Turk habitually. He winced inwardly, not wanting to treat his one time companion in such a way, but not wanting to let down his guard either if this was indeed a trap.   
  
  
"For watching him..." Lucrecia said sharply and then paused, letting her voice echo in the surreal limbo of unoccupied mental perception. "For helping him through this."   
  
  
"I didn't do anything." Tseng snapped as he quickly pivoted on the heels on his winged shoes, feeling somewhat hurt and guilty although he would never admit to anyone. His face portrayed one of stone coldness and complete control. The pounding of his heart and the rigidness of his jaw proved otherwise. "This isn't real. *You're* not real."   
  
  
"You did more than you could ever imagine, Tseng." She sighed, ignoring his ignorance as she stood beside him and looked him in the eye with shining glass eyes that nearly unnerved him into a shiver. She hugged him lightly as friends, not as lovers, would. He relaxed ever so slightly.   
  
  
Memories poured back into his memory as detailed flashbacks of coffee houses and late night chats between the three of them flooded his mind. There was an indescribable bond between the three of them that none of them could have ever expressed in words. They acknowledged it's presence, but never dared expressed it for, perhaps, subconsciously fearing that the fragile bond itself may come unwound by a simple word. No...they're bond was stronger...It was simply acknowledged. There was never a need for it to be verbalized.   
  
  
"Lucrecia." He said stiffly, trying very hard not let any sign of emotion show.   
  
  
His jaw tightened. His nostrils flared. No. He would not fall for this sort of treachery of the mind. It was painful and effective, he had to admit, but it would not work on the ex-leader of the Turks.   
  
  
"Tseng, it looks like you have your work cut out for you." She whispered softly as her image began to shrink in front of his eyes, not having the time to argue with him.   
  
  
"What do you mean?" Tseng shouted angrily as he began to chase after her shrinking image.   
  
  
As the light disappeared, a photo slowly drifted from the sky down to his feet. As he leaned down to pick it up, he realized that there was not only one picture, but two. He wondered if he should even bother looking at the pictures to continue this gut-wrenching game that someone had decided to play against his own heart. But curiosity won out, and his facial expression softened as he glanced down at the pictures in his hands.   
  
  
The first was a single picture of Aeris as beautiful as they day he laid eyes upon her with a white veil draped over face that seemed to portray the angelic figure Tseng had always known her to be. "A sign of things to come perhaps." He thought with a smile, ignoring the persistent paranoia that he once felt before. He pulled at the extruding corner of the second photo, and found an image that rather shocked him.   
  
  
The image was one of Sean, Chase, Ace, Reno, Rude, Elena, Sephiroth, Vincent, RedXIII and Aeris standing beside him in a rather militant way. The message, although not clearly expressed, was apparent. There would be a new team. A new awakening... He stood in the wake of the dreamlike waves surrounding his astral figure as he began to awaken, still staring at the contents in his hands.   
  
  
As he sat up bed, a frighteningly sad thought entered his mind. It was real. *She*...was real and he had--No. He refused to think about it. As a Turk he had learned to put all emotion behind him including guilt. That picture of Aeris swept through his mind once more, and for the first time--in a long time, he realized that life without love--Life without emotion--Hurt...pain...guilt...love--was no life at all. Since that fateful day that both he and Vincent had been shot, he considered Vincent to be fool. But every time he looked in Aeris Gainsboro's eyes, he found more reason everyday to risk his life for her.   
  
  
He remembered the group shot of them all....   
  
  
The Shin-Ra would fall...   
  
* * * *   
  
  
He watched as the sun carefully painted the serene sunrise with colors undreamt of by the imagination as it slowly rose over the treetops in the Ancient Forrest. His mind was so preoccupied that he failed notice the sun warming his cold,clamy face that still bore the moisture of Luecrecia's kiss. His heart no longer longed for an abstract dream that some where she might still be alive....She...was dead. He had to accept that.   
  
  
Why was it so hard for him to believe that she had passed on like dream that one can barely recall in the morn? He knew she had passed away, but in a fleeting hope to save his ravaged soul from the pits of a personal hell, he had somehow managed to convince himself that she was still out there somewhere. She was waiting for him with open arms. Her sparkling blue eyes dancing as they always did when they came into each other's presence...   
  
  
Seeing her, that night, confirmed his worse fears, and yet, in a fleeting moment, ended his personal nightmare. For her physical body may not be the vivacious persona it was once upon a blissful dream, but it wasn't for her body that he loved. He loved her for her soul. A soul that was now free from the restrains of these earthly cursed bodies... Free to fly as high as anyone ever dreamed to soar...One that was free enough...loving enough...to be watching over him every step of his life as he began his new journey down the path of redemption. It was a welcomed chance that was shown to him by God's most beautiful angel. An angel that would walk with him from here until eternity. A debt that was paid in love.   
  
  
  
* * * *   
  
Melodies of impossible dreams dance through the night like ballerinas on an endless quest. Senses are dulled by every sense of the word, yet more enlightened because they are less hindered by the mind in sleep. She watches him sleep in blissful slumber although any one else would find even his sleeping innocense a bewitching experience. They called him a monster. A devil...Malice drips off the tongue of anyone who speaks his unholy name...with the exception...of her.   
  
  
She watches his chest rise and fall with mixed feelings of sheer happiness... tears of joy...And yet the deepest sorrow that brings tears to her almost translucent eyes. What is not transparent is the hurt she feels and the overwhelming guilt of not being there when he needed her the most.   
  
  
She runs her hand through his silvery hair as a tear trickles down her glowing face. "Sephiroth, what have they done to you?" She whispers hoarsly. "My Darling little boy..." She stops herself not wanting to her words to choke from her grief, and holding a long lock of his silvery hair the palm of her hand. "You are confused...frightened..." A small fond, ironic, smile crept across her face as she brushed the back of her hand against his soft, warm cheek. "Although you would never admit it...lost..." Her smile grows as pride fills her bossom as any mother would. But a glint of sorrow festers in her gut until it overwhelms her love with unbriddled saddness and mourning as ravaging as locusts on an open field. She pushes his long,silvery bangs out of his face as she nearly cries at the memory of his birth...She cried to hold him...She begged...She remembered the look on her husband's face...seeing him as man she had never met before...He was cold, calculating...uncaring...and almost evil...   
  
*****************************************************************************************************   
  
"Please...let me hold him once...!"   
  
  
"Why?" She remembered him questioning. "You have no scientific purpose to the boy now..."He replied, not even giving her the worth of a simple glance.   
  
  
She looked at him in utter shock. Anger and parental fear began to rage within her as he tried to remove herself from the opperating table. Much to her dismay, she found herself strapped to the table, unable to move the slightest bit. "Professor---Nathaniel!! Let me go!! " She remembered rage pouring out of her every vein as she strugged against the leather straps that bound her to the table. "Where is Sephiroth?!" She screamed at the top of her lungs.   
  
  
"You can trust that he is safe...*doctor.*" Hojo sighed as he continued to tweak with his instruments, not even remotely caring that his wife was in a mad rage not 3 feet from him.   
  
  
"Doctor?!" She screamed. "Nathaniel, I'M YOUR WIFE!!" Blood dripped from her arms as she struggled against the leather straps, fighting with all of her might against what was keeping her from her son.   
  
  
"Were you?" Hojo said icyly as he turned around slowly. "Or were you Valentine's?!" He charged, glaring down at her icly until a small smirk played across his lips. "No matter.Love is for the weak. It is simply a by-product of the need to reproduce."   
  
  
"Are you suggesting I was only a means of reproduction for your experiment?!" Lucrecia shouted, calming a little. Her voice then became a taunting whisper. "Perhaps Vincent gave me something that you never could..."   
  
  
"And what was that?" The professor said calmly, as if this were a normal every day occurance as pulled the darringer pistol out of his coat pocket again. Lucrecia's life began to slowly fade away as blood began to seep from her chest.   
  
  
"Love, Nathaniel. Love...."   
  
  
The bullet fell from the cold chamber in a surealistic slow motion until it hit the floor with a clank that would echo for eternity.   
  
*****************************************************************************************************   
  
  
"If I could only turn back the hands of time..."She whispered as she sat upon the edge of the bed, fighting off a tear. " I would have gladly taken everything that was done to you on my own body even if it caused my own demise..." She paused as she ran a pale hand across his cheek, taking to heart everything that has happened within the 30 years since his birth.   
  
  
"Sephiroth, no matter what path your feet have tred, I want you to know that you have never been alone for a moment, and...that I...will always love you." She sniffled." I have seen your crimes...I cried for you when you had no tears...to shed. I cried with you when the lock on your heart was broken.... I tried to reach your heart when Jenova influenced your mind." She wiped a tear from her reddened eyes." Now that your mind is open, you must open your heart..."   
  
  
  
* * * *   
  
  
  
6:30 AM. The sun has barely begun to rise over the forrests of bone village,sending ghastly shades of pink, green, and blue cutting through the forrest like a resurection blade. A resurection of the day from the cold breathless death of night, scraping and leaving the forrest floor and small town of Bone Village to appear as barren as it's namesake. Ghosts of the nightly stars faded back into submission as the small group of people exposed their raw hearts to other ghosts of indecision, spectors of betrayal, and gouls of guilt. But what was night,really? Was it a time of rest and solitude?   
  
  
No, it was a time for the dance of death to parade it's morbid presence upon their souls playing a flighty tune. Giving them hope to fly high above it's grasp, until the icy grips from below snag them out of the sky like an owl hunting a field mouse. It's once flighty tune is now nothing but a wretching continuim of morbid notes echoing in their ears as they attempted to find the peace of sleep that seems so fleeting.   
  
  
A haunting realization hits them, peace is only fleeting. Sleep is merely a distraction.   
  
  
Some were plagued by nightmares...others found their new status too hard to accept. They were the Turks. 2 generations of men and women trained to be killers, murderers, and spies...Bred to be the conductors of death's symphony...Or so they're ex-employers thought them to be.   
  
  
Now they find themselves lost...without a purpose, but somewhat realizing that their their roles as the bastions of the Shin-Ra were never quite fulfilling...Their hopes...their dreams squandered for the sake of a money hungry organization. Their lives forever shattered by betrayal in the mirror of loyalty. Now they must pick up the pieces...For some, this war is far from over...For others, it has just...begun...   
  
  
"What are we going to do now?" Elena sighed almost tearfully as she sat on an tree stump, leaning on Rude exhaustedly. Rude looked down upon her sympathetically through his dark glasses as he pondered the same question.   
  
  
Confusion mingled with bits of insecurity floated through the air with an electric charge of anxiety,charging each heart of their lost group to beat one more beat than had been it's previous rythm. There was no more rythm in their lives...only a constant sense of disarray and disorder that selfproclaimed choas as its throne.   
  
  
Sean shook his head. "I don't know where we go from here." Sean sighed as he stuffed one his hands into the pockets of his trench coat deeply, speaking more to Chase and Ace. As he looked back at the others, he felt a soft hand slip into his own. He looked in shock to find Chase looking up at him worriedly, her eyes comforting his own skipping heart.   
  
  
Reno looked at Rude, his arm resting around Ace's shoulders." I say cut out of here. They'll find us if we don't get our butts moving."   
  
  
The others nodded silently in agreement.   
  
  
Although Ace couldn't put a finger on the feeling that scampered across her heart, she felt an uncommon bond that seemed to tie each of them together like a rope of eternity...especially between her and Reno. She had not felt a bond so strong before in her life. The wildness within her heart pulled at the chains that restrained her hardened heart from ever loving someone...the links between each of the chains she felt slowly losening as she felt a heightened sense of excitment wedge between the layers of indifference and of lonliness...   
  
  
"What about Tseng?" Elena whispered as she glanced up Rude who was towering over her.   
  
  
Another long moment of silence ensued. Each of them looked at each other questioningly, pondering that statement in their own way. To Reno, Tseng had been more than a boss. He had been the father he had never had. To Rude, Tseng had been rock and foundation unto which he laid his own foundations like a house upon a mountain. Elena not only depended on Tseng for support, but also she longed for his carress. A carress that now belonged to Aeris. One that would wrap around her like blanket and protect her from the brutal chill of reality itself.   
  
  
Although Sean, Ace, and Chase had not known Tseng, it was apparent that the combined feelings of the three original Turks had slowly begun to flow through their bodies and encircle their hearts like an electric current weaving in and out of their bodies a fabric of trust and loyalty.A love that was so radiant, it was absorbed through the skin.   
  
  
Rude looked down at her saddly. ". . .I--"   
  
  
Reno suddenly snapped to. "We're not leaving him." He stated matter-of-factly as he folded his arms across his chest.   
  
  
"Now that that is settled..." Sean muttered to himself sarcastically.   
  
  
Reno turned to Sean with a heated glance that was so full anger that it caused Ace, Elena, and Rude to slightly lean away from him. Sean, however, was not intimitaded. His body tensed as he turned to face Reno."Then why don't you and your rookie Turks just leave then, *Sean*." Reno charged.   
  
  
Both of the Turks now stood toe to toe. Chase was trying to pull Sean back as Ace and Elena tried to keep Reno under control. The tension in the air was thick as Reno and Sean glared at each other, their tiredness obviously showing, yet their eyes held polar opposite expressions. Sean's eyes were lit up like fire with rage boiling maddly while Reno withheld a calm, iciness around himself that backed up his hard edge.   
  
  
"Both of you, enough."Tseng's voice echoed like thunder through the silent stillness of the morning.   
  
  
"I didn't mean we should leave him..."Sean muttered angerly as Chase felt his muscles relax. "It still *doesn't* solve the problem of where to go next." Sean said lowly, still earning many hateful looks from Reno.   
  
  
Vincent slowly walked up behind him, not creating a sound as he went like a spirit with those haunted, painfully red eyes. RedXIII pawed slightly behind him, with Sephiroth finally in last, walking much like Vincent had.   
  
  
Everyone with the exception of Tseng, Vincent, and RedXIII shuddered under the cold glance of Sephiroth's cold, green, mako eyes. Sephiroth silently sheathed his sword and turned away from the group, but not before Elena noticed a certain softness in his eyes.Vincent. Tseng. Sephiroth. In all of their eyes, there was something different. Vincent's eyes almost looked bloodshot and sleepless while Tseng looked almost the complete opposite. Elena noticed that Tseng was standing just a little bit straighter with an icy fire of determination burning deep within his eyes. And finally Sephiroth's eyes held a look that was in stark contrast to either of them. His eyes beheld a certain haunting look with a fog of comtemplation.   
  
  
"We're leaving." Tseng said sharply, making each of the Turks' eyes widen with surprise.   
  
  
"But Boss, we leave now and the Shin-Ra'll be on us quick." Reno said as he turned toward Tseng.   
  
  
"Listen to Tseng." Vincent said curtly, not wanting either of them to be questioned.   
  
  
Tseng's voice echoed eerily."Yes...And listen well."   



End file.
